Freddy R. Troya

9.3

Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2023
South Australia 🇦🇺

Overview
A more tightly wound and concentrated expression of Bin 389, showcasing the same Cabernet-Shiraz framework (Cabernet for backbone, Shiraz for richness) but delivered with greater tension, density, and youthful drive. This vintage leans more serious and structured than 2022, highlighting the fascinating impact vintage conditions have on balance, ripeness, and extraction in agricultural wines.

Aromas & Flavors
Intense blackcurrant, crushed blackberry, dark cherry, and graphite dominate the aromatics, layered with fresh cedar, cocoa nib, and subtle minty spice. The palate is compact and powerful, showing darker fruit concentration, savory spice, and tightly coiled oak structure that promises excellent evolution with time.

Mouthfeel
Full-bodied and more compact than the 2022. Tannins are firmer and more youthful, giving a punchier, more linear profile. The wine feels energetic and focused, with impressive density and length, clearly built for further integration.

Food Pairings
Char-grilled steak or venison. Slow-braised beef cheeks. Pepper-crusted lamb. Smoked meats and firm aged cheeses.

Verdict
A bolder, more muscular Bin 389 that trades immediate plushness for intensity and aging potential. A striking reminder of how vintage variation shapes personality, same blueprint, very different expression.

Did You Know?
Penfolds sources fruit for Bin 389 from multiple South Australian regions, blending different terroirs and climates to build complexity, consistency, and layered structure across vintages.

🍷 Personal Pick
If you enjoy tracking wine evolution, this is a fantastic candidate for short-to-mid-term cellaring, revisit in a few years to watch the structure melt into harmony. Also check my previous 2022 review!
— 9 months ago

Megan

9.2

Majestic - really nice, a little different. Quite strong — 2 years ago

Mark

9.3

Deepest of Ruby color. Amazing nose with a hint of cinnamon. I’m a big fan of Malbec but the petit Verdot really balances this wine out. Great legs and deep color make a visually appealing drink. Tons of fruit and mild tannins to balance the fruit out. Drinking this wine on Christmas Eve and I feel a little guilty like I opened a present early. Trefethen never disappoints. — 2 years ago

Evan Bozman

9.0

Great wine for a good cause.. Nice blackberry after notes. — 7 years ago

Frank

9.0

Jason brought for boys golf week. Spainish. 10 yr great. — 7 years ago

Lynn Derbyshire

9.0

Rich, thick, smooth, just yummy!!! A smoky essence that was surprising. Had it with grilled chicken and tomatillo salsa. Divine. would be awesome with a steak or lamb. 8/10/18 — 8 years ago

Christopher Beatty

9.0

Full flavor. Not too jammy. — 10 years ago

TheSkip

8.9

Winner of the most obnoxious wax job this year. And to boot, adding a pull tab?

I was expecting better things from this wine. To me, it wasn't appreciably different from Meomi. If I had paid the same as Meomi, I'd be singing a different tune. But the #QPR is poor here.

You can tell a mile away that this is a Wagner family wine. There is the over extraction and sweet vanilla oak that dominates. I really thought with Pinot Noir things would be different. Now I'm thinking that they really only know how to make one style of wine and bending the grapes to fit the style. That, or they're just adding the Mega Purple to everything. — 10 years ago

Michael Sager-Wilde

Owner Sager + Wilde

10

Blinded another wino and response was premier cru white Burg. Not bad Eben... — 13 years ago

Donald Williams

9.3

We really enjoyed this. — 9 months ago

with Bonnie

Mark S.

9.0

Deep cherry red with violet. Black pepper. Blueberry blackberry leather nutmeg clove
Fruitiness M+ Sweetness M Acidity M Tannin M+ Soft Bitterness M Body M+ Finish M 14% Elegant but Concentrated Robust Mullineux Family Wines Swartland Syrah 23 @6160, AD, 251225 — 10 months ago

David White

9.2

Bordeaux Blend- Cabernet Sauvignon 70%, Cabernet Franc 15%, Merlot 15% 2018 was wet season and this impacted the normally bold style.
It is still full bodied - deep ruby red colour - but t’s a more lighter, elegant classic style, with blackcurmat red berry and cassis. So what is lost in power is replaced by a more refined and elegant wine.
— 2 years ago

Kate

9.8

So grateful to be able to dink this wine Thanksgiving Eve. — 2 years ago

Kojo A

9.3

I think mom might like this one — 6 years ago

Dimitri S

9.3

De Toren Fusion V 2001 please!!!
4Aug2019 evening, with our AMS’dam gang.. A fabulous dinner with a magnificent wine to match it!! — 7 years ago

James Shamas

9.4

Amazing full bodied zin. Beautiful barrel character. Drink now — 8 years ago

Doctor No

9.1

Wow. This is young, and the nose is a bit of dark red berry suffusing a sea of resolving American Oak. The American oak is so pronounced that, had I tasted this blind, I might have taken it for Ridge... :) This has decades ahead, even if -only- a Riserva. Like La Rioja Alta 904, a fantastic value in old school Rioja... — 9 years ago

Peter Wassam

9.1

Definitely some noticeable oak here but it's exquisitely integrated leading to plush texture and plum, tobacco, some black pepper and coke(the liquid form). Black cherry. This is long, soft and delicious — 10 years ago

Virgilio Ryan

Region Manager East, CRU Selections Terlato Wines International

9.0

Virgilio had this 11 years ago

Joel Fariss

9.0

3.99 at trader joes. — 13 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.5

Quite a light to mid lemon in colour for its 11 years of age. Nutty (almond and cashew) aromas. Oak has integrated. The palate shows those same nutty notes together with that trademark pear character with white nectarine. Overall still youthful. My remaining 3 bottles will easily see out this decade. — 9 months ago

Greg Andrew

9.0

12/20/25 - Steak dinner with spinach nookie & bread roll. — 10 months ago

with Beth

Alexandre Czesnat

8.9

BlackBerry, Oak, Tobbaco aromas, chocolate, a bold Cabernet Sauvignon with really good quality — 2 years ago

Henry Boshoff

9.3

Nice and spicy... — 5 years ago

Robert Evans Jr

9.1

Tremendous & Intense Nose Clean Crisp Honeydew Melon. Butter Toffee on the Palate. @Ron R channeling my inner you on this description — 7 years ago

with Nicole

Sydney Provence

9.9

Really nice, crisp, minerally chenin blanc. At this price point, it's everything I want from a wine. — 7 years ago

Chris England

9.4

Top year 904 @ £75 that was drank in Zalto burg glass as its like an aged burgundy

🐽 Paired w/ Iberian Ham 😍

🍷 Garnet ruby w/ brick

👃 Smoked burnt oak, soggy earthy leaves, leather, dark cherry & figs w/ balsamic & damson

👄 Med body of creamy stewed cherry w/ earthy balsamic & slight mocha

🎯 Med finish of above w/ earthy balsamic linger

Reaching peak but I preferred the 95 904 over this but the 890 94 was better than the 95! — 9 years ago

Montgomery Nathaniel

9.5

Lovely blend — 11 years ago

Courtney Fletcher

8.9

Tastes like a glorious oak tree, surprisingly tannins — 11 years ago

Patrick Dolan

9.7

Aroma of rich berries. Smooth and slightly sweet with a sour note. Very good. — 13 years ago