Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

Polished from top to bottom, this red boasts fine-grained tannins, offering a generous core of blackberry and cassis flavors that show accents of cured black olive, sandalwood and vanilla-laced cedar, with a whiff of peppermint and dried sage, all harmonious on the long finish. Drink now through 2035. 13,596 cases imported.

Dark magenta. Ripe cherry, cassis, cracked pepper and incense aromas are complemented by suggestions of menthol, pipe tobacco and woodsmoke. The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 407 shows firm tension and power in the mouth, offering sappy red and dark berry, vanilla, rose pastille and spicecake qualities and a sweetening cola nuance that emerges with aeration. Juicy and energetic on the long, gently chewy finish, which features well-knit tannins and lingering spice and bitter cherry notes. Raised in a combination of French and American oak hogsheads, 35% of them new.

While the 2019 Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon shows ample concentration and ripe tannins, there's a pervasive herbal note. While some will call it Cabernet's varietal character-and I won't dispute that a bit of pyrazine is indeed endemic to the Cabernet family of grapes-balance is key. To this taster, there's just a bit too much mint and other green stuff for me to go gaga over the 2019 Bin 407. It's still an excellent wine, with plenty of weedy cassis fruit, a ripe, lush feel on the medium to full-bodied palate and a velvety, dark-chocolate finish. Sourced from Padthaway, Coonawarra, Wrattonbully, McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley, it spent a year in a combination of French and American hogsheads.