Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon South Australia Australia 2010 (14.5% ABV) – 94
SF | Dense, near opaque, its age hard to discern. There is a little volatility here; an old library that has kept the curtains down; not musty, just evolved, maturing at a regal pace. The VA piques the palate, too, adding a poetic lift, but also, maybe, compromising the structure, which seems to have been built to last. Dark chocolate, hints of tapenade, seaweed, even; a garnished finish, reassuringly poised, enfin. 92
AR | This is showing huge depth of color, despite its relative maturity; and it's still remarkably fresh and young when you take that first sniff, with a bouquet of brooding oak spice and dark fruit; and when you taste, there's a richness and depth of flavor indiicating that it's needed this length of time in bottle even to get to first base, a hint of charry oak incorporating mouthwatering cassis fruit and spices in an immense mouthful of fruit; so much so, that while you wouldn't exactly call this wine elegant, you have to say that it more than compensates by way of a hugely satisfying mouthful of seductive fruit, and given its relative youthfulness now, it surely has at least another couple of decades of life ahead of it—probably more. 95
DW | Super-rich, dense, powerful, baking-spice and dried-fruit notes emerging alongside cigar box, fig, and a touch of soy; age has in this instance brought complexity and savory interest; the palate is full of contrast, with appetizingly textured tannins and a sweetly stylish finish. Still young, with so much tannin and substance, and lots of evolution still to come. 95