Sometimes you get to know a wine so well it becomes part of the family. Leasingham’s Bin 56 is a bit like that. It’s the faithful, consistent and ever so friendly blend of cabernet sauvignon and malbec from the old Schobers vineyard in, quite fittingly, one of the country’s most picturesque of all wine regions, Clare. It was the wine of my long university afternoons, when value might have been easier to find but no less satisfying to discover than it is today. Ever since its first release from 1970, Bin 56 has always been synonymous with honesty, value and flavour. Irrespective of what you knew about wine you could enjoy it young and you could tell it would improve in the bottle. Cabernet gives it length, intense ripe blackberry and slightly leafy fruit. Although it’s only 10% of the finished wine, malbec contributes to its rather rustic earthiness and firm, kernelly tannnins. Being a Clare Valley red, it often smacks lightly of eucalypt and mint. It’s an uncompromisingly Australian red and proud of it. It’s had its classic vintages, too. There was the unforgettable, long-living 1971, rare as an honest politician and twice as memorable. And the super, seductive 1975, the best kept bottles of which have still to surrender to the inevitability of time. After an unfortunate spell during which the Bin 56 endured a change of name to ‘Leasingham Domaine Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec’, it has returned in recent years to tip-top form. More recently, the Bin 56s from 1992, 1994 and 1996 are special wines easily able to embarrass others several times more expensive. Winemakers Kerri Thompson and Belinda Kleinig are again fermenting Bin 56 in traditional open fermenters and at traditionally higher temperatures. It’s getting better oak and more of it than throughout the 1980s, but the wines remain driven by deeply flavoured, ripe fruit. From a slightly more difficult season than usual, the 1997 is the current release. It’s a firm, minty wine with typically intense ripe red and black berry fruit qualities and will repay at least three years in the cellar. One of the most frequently asked questions of anyone in the wine trade is to name the best red wines which offer the most value for money. Add Bin 56 to your list. It’s Leasingham’s challenge to keep it there.
