2019 Penfolds Bin 600 Cabernet Shiraz California 750 ml

Nearly 25 years ago, Penfolds took cuttings from some of their most prized vines and planted them halfway around the world in California. It was the kind of far-sighted project that few wineries would even consider, and only a worldwide icon with nearly two centuries of experience could pull off.

The 2019 Penfolds Bin 600 is the culmination of those efforts. This is the California edition of Penfolds’ Bin 389 “Baby Grange,” the Cabernet-Shiraz blend the winery mastered more than 50 years ago and now stands as Australia’s most collectible wine.

Hailing from one of the great vintages of the past decade, the 2019 consists of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon grown on top sites in Napa Valley, Sonoma, and Paso Robles. The rest of the blend is Shiraz from the Camatta Hills Vineyard, which Penfolds custom-planted in Paso 24 years ago with vine cuttings from their Magill and Kalimna Estates—sources that go into their Wine Spectator–topping Grange.

One sip of this impeccably made red reveals why Penfolds has twice earned the title of World’s Most Admired Wine Brand. Dark ruby-violet in the glass, the wine is awash in aromas of black fruit set against a backdrop of cinnamon stick, warm earth, and mocha. Voluminous and full on the palate, showing nice balance and composure, it’s a wine that displays its superb lineage from start to finish. 

Harvested when Penfolds’ treasured cuttings were 21 years old, the Shiraz in this blend provides the ideal complement to California’s signature deep, dense Cabernet. The wine was aged for 17 months in 40% new American oak—similar to Baby Grange—giving it a toasted character that provides the perfect lingering accent to this phenomenally structured blend.