2003 Penfolds Bin 28

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It was a hectic week at work, and I decided to take the missus out to Ruth’s Chris in Bellevue. No point going to a nice steak place without some good vino, so I tried to find something that was somewhat special.

Hunting around I found a 5 year old bottle of Bin 28 hiding back there. I wish I had the willpower to turn it into a 10 year old bottle, but what are you going to do?

It went very well with my porterhouse, as you would expect. It was very dry, but still had the dark fruit flavor that I like to have. Not very peppery in my opinion.

My only mistake was killing the whole bottle myself (wife is pregnant). But I am over that now – just needed lots of water.

2003 Foggo Old Bush Vine Grenache

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This was another random purchase, but one that has worked out quite well. This is a dark, rich grenache that is almost shiraz like in dryness and flavour. The balance of the wine is nigh on perfect, and the colour is a rich red. Unfortunately no purple hue to it, but you cannot have everything.

I am drinking this in anticipation of my experimental lamb loin recipe that is in the oven. If this succeeds then I might get my wife to publish the recipe on her web site some time.

2003 Justin Isosceles

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After killing the Grant Burge GSM we decided to open another bottle. Jeff did not have much of the GSM and was on a drinking mission, and I was just drunk enough to believe that more wine was a great idea (my hangover the next day would, however, prove otherwise). Jeff burrowed around his collection a bit, and consultation with his Justin aging chart told him that the Isosceles was ready to go.

I was happy that he did decide this – the Isosceles was a great cab. It had a hint of vanilla about it, and it had way more prescence in the glass than the GSM did. The flavour reminded me of the Penfolds Bin 707 a little bit (it has that same vanilla Cabernet feel to it), just slightly more subdued. There was also more smoothness and sugar in the 707, but considering the price points this is not surprising.

Looking around the tubes this is not exactly a cheap cab at around $50-$60 a bottle, but the quality was enough that I would definitely consider Justin the next time I want to try something Californian.

2003 Fox Creek Shiraz Grenache

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Since I have not had a chance to pick up the wine that I have ordered for the past six months, I am starting to scrape the bottom of my “drink every day” barrel. By this I mean that I have drank all of the OK stuff that I want to drink, and that I have drank enough of the good stuff to know that I want to age some of it for a while (and forget the stuff in the fridge. That shit is Elliot Ness until my parents come back into town or Jeff throws a gauntlet down.

As I ummed and ahhed over what to drink, the Fox Creek Shiraz Grenache caught my eye. A quick search on the tubes tells me that this is not a super expensive bottle, so I decide to take the plunge. And I am glad that I did.

This stuff has that smooth earthy tone that a good Shiraz should have, with a bit of a peppery bite. Good alone or with some fine animal flesh, this is a great bottle. I wish now that I found this in 2002, since this is a McLaren Vale vineyard and 2003 was not quite the year that 2002 was (apparently).

Unless I am mistaken I don’t have any more, so I now need to attempt to procure some more when my wallet stops bleeding from Christmas (which will probably be next Christmas). If you like the Rosemount GSM or the heavier Penfolds Bin series (389, 128, anything with a numbered label) then you will love this.