Nor is it a Hobart Muddy!!!Just got given a bottle of Penfolds Bin 389 Cab Shiraz, 1998.
I admit I like a drink or seventeen, but it's usually a rough red (Morris Pressings) or a Darling Park 2005 Shirah (my current fave).
I proudly admit I know NOTHING about wine.
I drank a bottle of Cyril Henshcke's last vintage when I was about 25.. and I knew it was a great wine.. don't know HOW I knew, but I did.
I know nothing of tannins and balance and "blueberry after tones".. and I really don't give a toss if Jeremy Oliver-Smythe gave it a 9.5 out of 10 at last years "Viticulture's Wanker Awards"
BUT..... I do know that this is a wine to respect (Warning: cue random Python quote: "This isn't a wine for drinking it's a wine for laying down and avoiding")...
So, dear readers, WHAT do I do with it?? Cellar it? Quaff it tonight with a McCain's pizza? Save it till Winter and sloooooowly sip it with a rabbit and foie gras terrine?? Regift it? Add some lemonade and call it Sangria?? What about breathing?? Decanting??
Take my wine-wanker virginity and tell me how I should treat this unexpected bottle of loveliness??
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8 comments:
no idea but, found this post (which you possibly found already ...)
http://wineamateur.blogspot.com/2007/03/penfolds-bin-389-cabernet-shiraz-1998.html
then this one http://www.penfolds.com/library/tasting/1998_Bin389.pdf
says it is ideally suited to cheese or lamb .... so seems to me it is screaming out for the lamb roasted in the wood oven, with some of your cheesy delights alongside ...
sg
You are hilarious Ella, do whatever you want to... you know how to tell the best wine, it's the one you like!!! Enjoy it with someone you love whenever the fancy takes you and you will be sure to enjoy it!! Vida x x x
What she says!
I did some work for Penfolds this year and was lucky enough to sample the Reserve drops, including St.Henri and the 'Holy Grail' of Aussie wines, the wine whose name we do not mention.
What you have there is a $70+ bottle of vino and 1998 produced some excellent wine. I'd be more than happy to drink it with you!
Vida, you are so right!! I just get all squiffy when someone gives me a "good" bottle of wine... I want to do it justice, ya know..
Stiki.. I might just have to put it aside until we catch up. Tell me, Did the Wine Whose Name We Dare Not Mention live up to the hype??
The wine Whose Name We Dare Not Mention is a very good wine. There are other wines now made locallly which are as good.
When you look at the history of wine making in Australia you see it was a ground breaking wine, made by a very determined man who chose to break the rules and pursue it in spite of Penfold's rejecting it, so it was made in secret until a time where it would be accepted. I felt lucky to be able to try it - as I couldn't afford to buy a good year.
Your bottle is a wine Penfold's drinkers regard as a wine of quality and good value. As a 9 year old it is certainly good to drink now, but if you're cellaring it, just make sure it is in a climate controlled environment away from heat and light.
Ella, you can always share it with your very appreciative food blog friends at the catch up dinner. We won't say no hahaha.
PG I know everything there is to know about wine.
this is a rubbish wine, so much so that you should dispose of it thoughtfully.
Tell you what, send it to me and I'll thoughtfully dispose of it!!!
Grocer..
You are SO good to me....
**sniffs emotionally**
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