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.

Penfolds Grandfather Tawny Port

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Jeff generously opened this stuff up the other night after we went to Tosoni’s to celebrate his marriage, and I got to have some. This was not my first Penfolds Grandfather experience – I once had a glass at the Greengate in Killara. It cost me 15 dollars Australian and was worth every penny.

The Grandfather is still as stately as ever. This stuff is incredibly smooth, almost like honey has been mixed into it. Almost no trace of alcohol – you could down half a bottle of this and not feel anything but a sugar buzz (or at least it seems). In the US it will go for about $80 apparently – which is 8 times the price of the normal Penfolds Club port, which Jeff, Raphael and myself went in on a case for. Is it worth 8 times as much?

We debated this as Jeff, my father and I chatted in the backyard on a warm night at the end of summer in Kirkland. It was a beautiful experience, and the special nature of the port made it more so. I was glad to have my parents there at the end of a great night. There are some things that you cannot put a price on.

Now, I have a bottle of Great Grandfather that I got in duty free last year on the way back from Australia. This cost me about 300 dollars Australian (about US$240 at the time). When I have the guts to open this, I will see how much better port can be.

2001 Penfolds St Henri Shiraz

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This was the other bottle that I brought to dinner with the Pikkara Shiraz. It is one of my Mum’s favorites, and she was coming to dinner so I brought it for her.

This one sat in the decanter for the night and opened up very nicely. I think that it was better received than the Pikkara, but this is not a big surprise, since the Pikkara costs half as much and is a bigger, meatier thing that some people find to be just too much. The St Henri is a gentle, refined Shiraz that sits at the bottom of the price range for the Penfolds premium wines. This range has some serious membership (RWT and Bin 707 among them).

There is not much more to say about it really. For a refined old fashioned shiraz St Henri fits the bill nicely, going well with the rich food at a European style restaurant very easily, even when having seafood. Just don’t pay too much for it – some places want 60 bucks a bottle for this, and you can faily easily find it for almost half of that at a good wine shop like Seattle Wine Co. Be warned that it sells fast too.

1999 Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon

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Tonight I went to Tosoni’s – an awesome restaurant in Bellevue that I believe to be the best in the Puget Sound. It turns out that they had a bottle of Bin 707 there, and I could not resist grabbing a bottle to have with dinner. Normally I would not be so bold, but my beautiful wife egged me on and I went for it. Am I ever glad that I did.

This is the big daddy of the Penfolds Cabernet range, and it definitely shows when you crack it and taste it. It was smooth and sweet when you tasted it, strong in the good way and not in the bad way. It had a great mineral texture that my favorite wines always have (like Magill Estate, RWT, Grange, GSM and Euroa Creeks). The wine went fantastically with the surf and turf that I was eating, and it was pleasant to continue with after dinner.

I actually have some of this stuff stashed away, and I am now very glad to have done so. I have been slack in procurring more and I need to get onto that soon. So much wine to hoard, and so little money.

If you want something bold and Australian to drink, but want to stray away from Shiraz for the night, I definitely recommend trying this (if you can find it – this stuff is like hen’s teeth).