The 2021 Penfolds Bin 169 Cabernet Sauvignon - “a total knock out" (JA) and one of Decanters Southern Hemisphere wines of the year for 2024

With Decanter choosing the 2021 Penfolds Bin 169 Cabernet Sauvignon as one of only five wines that for the regional editors represent the best of the southern hemisphere for 2024, we are thrilled to be able to offer you some today at market leading prices. For Decanter the Bin 169 “trumped” its stablemates Bin 707 as well as Grange and offered “great comparative value in a near perfect Coonawarra vintage”.

For Decanter the 2021 Penfolds Bin 169 Cabernet Sauvignon is “exceptional this vintage, speaks strongly of its terroir and represents a great buy for the price”. 

Suckling’s Goodwin and Anson mirror this sentiment with the former noting that “2021 is exceptional across South Australia” and that the Bin 169 “will age very well and I may be underscoring this today”. For Anson meanwhile it is “a total knock out” and “thoroughly delicious”.

With fantastic scores across the board this is a fantastic buy and not to be missed out on. Do let me know if you would like to secure any of these cases:

2021 Penfolds Bin 169 Cabernet Sauvignon

£692 per case (6*75cl OWC) in bond – 20 cases available

97 points Decanter’s Tina Gellie

“As with the multi-region Bin 707, the Coonawarra-only Bin 169 returns in 2021 after a year of absence due to fruit quality in 2020 not being up to par. And what a return it is in this near-perfect vintage for Coonawarra, demonstrating why this region is so fêted for Cabernet Sauvignon. More on an elegant red-fruit spectrum than the dense, dark black berries of Bin 707, this is correspondingly lithe and lifted, with exotic notes of potpourri, blue ink, fresh mint tea and liquorice joining concentrated boysenberry, pomegranate, cigar box spice, and firm but fine coffee tannins. Very complex and layered with a welcome light hand on the oak: 16 months in French hogsheads, 51% new. Exceptional this vintage, speaks strongly of its terroir and represents a great buy for the price.”

96 points James Suckling’s Ned Goodwin

“For the record, 2021 is exceptional across South Australia. Choosing the best wines is, at times, like pulling needles from a haystack. Crushed blackcurrants, a waft of sage, dried lavender and black olive paste are lathered across an impenetrably juicy finish that runs very long. A lick of Coonawarra menthol. Just a lick. This will age very well and I may be underscoring this today. Drinkable now, but best from 2026.”

96 points Jane Anson

“So young that the aromatics are still hidden, silky, dark bitter chocolate, cassis, crushed mint and graphite. Thoroughly delicious, this has so much potential, a total knock out, delivering a slow build and slow construction through the palate. There was no Bin 707 or 169 in 2020 because of wildfires, so this is the first in two years. 100% French oak, 51% new. Tasted in Paris and Bordeaux in the same week. Delicious both times. Peter Gago winemaker.”

Offered subject to final confirmation and remaining unsold. Available in 8-12 weeks in the UK. Offer expires 31st January 2025.