Penfolds Bin 600 California Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz

Californian Cabernet Shiraz through a Penfolds lens. In 1998 Penfolds exported a heritage selection of vine cuttings from their world famous Kalimna and Magill Estate vineyards and planted them in Californian soil.

The originalCamatta Hills vineyard in California was called Creston “600” Ranch – thus the name behind Bin 600!

This is the 2022 vintage and as Penfolds winemaker Andrew Baldwin puts it – “Bin 600 is a cross-regional blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz that marries South Australian heirloom vine cuttings with American soil. A classic Penfolds blend reimagined under a Californian sky.”

95/100 (James Halliday’s Wine Companion)
“In ’98, a heritage selection of cuttings from the Kalimna and Magill Estate vineyards were planted on Californian soil and this wine, a blend of 66/34% Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon/Paso Robles shiraz is the culmination of the project. Deep crimson/magenta in the glass with an initial rush of medina spice and fruit tones of plush blueberry, blackberry, dried raspberry and black cherry. This is such a pretty, pure-smelling wine, with hints of berry cream, baking spices, crushed stone, pan juices, roasting meats, graphite, cedar and earth. Finely structure and pure of fruit; it’s delicious now but will repay cellaring.”

94/100 (Huon Hooke, The Real Review)
“Sweetly fragrant mulched wet leaves and humus aromas, the palate soft and medium-full bodied, dark and red fruits, with gentle tannins and a bite of early acidity which falls into place by the finish. Very good and will drink earlier than some of the other Penfolds international blends. (66% cabernet sauvignon 34% shiraz. Napa Valley & Paso Robles. Aged in American oak barriques, 45% new) “

Bin 600 is good to go now but really you ought to be tucking a few bottles away in the cellar, up until around 2045.