Elegant, smooth and supple, showing off cedar, black tea and sandalwood aromas, with plenty of restraint. The raspberry coulis, dark chocolate cherry and blood orange notes at the center are wonderfully pure. The tannins are polished and supple, and the flavors weave into harmony on the finish. Drink now through 2035. 18,086 cases imported.
This sits in the typical, just cabernet-dominant style (54%) and marries cassis, blueberries, leaves and cedary-dominant aromas with more substantial blackberries and dark cherries, as well as redder tones at the finish. The regional sourcing here is cleverly played and delivers a fleshy, soft and smooth wine in 2017. Long, vanilla-laced after-trail. Drink over the next fifteen years. A stallion in the cellar!
Saturated ruby. Displays an array of spice-accented black and blue fruit and floral scents, along with suggestions of coconut, pipe tobacco and woodsmoke. Broad and fleshy on entry, offering appealingly sweet cherry liqueur, cassis, bitter chocolate and exotic spice flavors that firm up steadily through the back half. Shows fine definition and spicy cut on a long, smoke- and floral- driven finish.
A blend of fruit from McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley, Padthaway and Wrattonbully, this so-called ‘Baby Grange’ is matured for 12 months in American oak, partly in previous-vintage Grange casks. It has a very special quality on the nose, combining as it does both the cassis of Cabernet (54%) and liquorice-spiced dark fruit of Shiraz (46%), with a note of mint.and the veneer of vanilla oak. An Australian classic (dare I mention 'icon'...), it has a seductive sweetness and richness of spice-infused dark fruit on the palate, supported by a touch of mint and sweet vanillin oak, all silky-textured in this vintage. It's almost forward, suggesting early approachability and yet, deceptively, with a structure of firm tannins and a fine spine of acidity for good ageing potential. One for spiced duck breast or oxtail. Drinking Window 2021 - 2030
Close to an even split of each, the 2017 Cabernet Shiraz, which is always aged in the prior year’s Grange barrels, is a beauty, offering full-bodied, powerful notes of blackcurrants, tobacco leaf, chocolate, toasted spices, and gravelly minerality. Deep, beautifully concentrated, and balanced, it has nicely integrated acidity, ripe yet present tannins, and, again, just terrific overall balance. It also builds beautifully with time in the glass and is a seriously good red blend from this team. Drink it any time over the coming 10-15 years.
The 2017 Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz is only 54-46 in favor of Cabernet Sauvignon, yet it shows pronounced mint and cassis aromas. The Shiraz is more apparent in the mouth, where it fills out the full-bodied palate with velvety richness and plush tannins before fading a bit quickly on the finish. This vintage includes fruit from McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley, Padthaway and Wrattonbully.
Winery Notes
Balance of the sweet (cabernet) and the savory (shiraz). Possesses what has now often been referred to as a black forest cake 2017 vintage flavor profile. Darker fruits – closer to that of a black cherry liqueur than a crème de cassis. The structure of Cabernet Sauvignon aligned with the richness of Shiraz. Blackberries, savory herbs, licorice, cassis this wine’s youthful profile is tempered by softened and even tannins – from start to finish. And the judicious use of new oak.