That is One Good Bottle of Wine

Tonight at my sister’s we had a cheese fondue. Now with fondue, there is nothing like a great glass of wine, so Lisa offered up any bottle from her pantry. Colleen and I wandered downstairs to check out what we had to choose from. One glance and Colleen knew what bottle she wanted – a Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet-Shiraz.

Now we love Penfolds, but little did we know what we were grabbing. As we were walking upstairs, I noticed it was a 1990 vintage. My sister later claimed that it was a bottle of wine I had brought them from Australia after the 2000 Olympics. Either way, this could possibly be a winner … Trying to research the vintage we shot blanks (even the Penfolds site does not go back before 1995), other than finding it for sale at auctions for anywhere between $100 and $150, and it did not disappoint.

** Cathy and Bill if you are reading this, can you enlighten us?

December 30th, 2005 | by Scott

4 Comments

Bill Kuhlman

December 30th, 2005 - 2312

1990 Australia was a good year and ready to drink. Vintages in southern Australia (Barossa where Penfold is) are very consistent year to year so the vintage is really not much of an issue.
What you should REALLY be thinking about is the 2005 vintage. You should lay down a case of long lasting wine for your newborn from her birth year, to be gifted on her majority.
When we were in the Rhone (France) vineyards in October the harvest looked excellent, So an ’05 Hermitage or Chateauneuf du Pape should be considered for Avery’s future.

Genuine

December 31st, 2005 - 1709

What no tasting notes? Shameful!

Cousin Cathy

January 1st, 2006 - 1611

Happy New Year! In ’96, we had a private tasting at Penfold’s while visiting the Barossa Valley. Bill recalls that the Bin 707 was quite good–thinks it was probably a ’93.

That same day, a Saturday, we took a tour at Henschke. The Barossa was then (& probably still is) like Napa was in the 1950′s–wide open spaces & very few tourists. So there were only about 8 or 10 of us on the tour & we were the last tour of the day. The winery was closing at noon.

Well, Bill & I were nosing around the cellar when the guide took the rest of the tour upstairs, turned off the light & locked the door! We didn’t panic but I have to say it was pitch dark and cold. The prospect of having to stay down there even tho the area we were in was aging Hill of Grace which goes for about $350/bottle was scarey. But we managed to feel our way to the stairs & were released from our dungeon.

We have had many unusual experiences in our explorations as oenophiles but this was one of the most unusual.

Later that day while hiking in a “state” park where we seemed to be the only people, we were surprised by a giant kangaroo which came bounding out of the woods right toward us. Once he got our scent, he made a U-turn. What was really amazing was how quite he was even tho making enormous hops at such a fast speed.

I highly recommend the Barossa. And be sure to visit the zoo at Adelaide where you can hand feed all sorts of walabies & ‘roos.