Australia is fortunate to be the only country in the world whose largest wine company continually strives to make its best wine.’ So said Jancis Robinson, one of the world’s most important wine writers, at a function I attended a few years ago. It’s a remark which struck a chord. Nowhere is its truth more evident than in the red wines of Penfolds and nowhere more precisely than in the Special Bin reds which Penfolds create whenever the mood seems to take them. Historically these wines have generally been modelled on two different red recipes: a Coonawarra cabernet – Barossa shiraz mix and a cabernet – shiraz sourced entirely from Coonawarra. The prototypes, which will take some surpassing, were christened Bin 60A and Bin 620, from the two great vintages of 1962 and 1966 respectively. The Special Bins began in 1962 when Max Schubert, the creator of Grange, was told that Penfolds were about to re-enter the show circuit and that it was up to him to knock up something worth submitting. Pronto. Directly from the first batch of possible show wines emerged Bin 60A, an entirely unprobable name for a wine still popularly considered to be the best this country has ever produced. A blend of 60% Coonawarra cabernet sauvignon and 40% Kalimna (Barossa) shiraz from 1962, it is justifiably one of the most successful show wines ever. The response to its mere 425 cases more than met its masters’ expectations and good bottles of this wine are still close to perfection. Alas, The Bin 620, a Coonawarra blend of cabernet sauvignon and shiraz, is now considered to be heading over the hill. In 1967 Schubert’s team created an unsung classic in the same varietal and regional mix as 60A: the Bin 7. 500 cases were produced of this long-living wine, which has acquired tremendous power and expression with age. Penfolds again repeated the 60A formula in 1980 to fashion the Bin 80A, while in 1982 the Bin 820 was made, following the pure Coonawarra mix of the Bin 620, with 57% cabernet sauvignon and 43% shiraz. To a degree both reflect the Australian red winemaking trend of their day towards lighter, more elegant styles; both being a mere 12% alcohol by volume. While 940 cases were made of 80A, 890 were blended of the 820. No further Special Bin releases were made until the remarkable 1990 vintage, by which time Australians were again making and drinking firmer, more robust wine. Following the established pattern, the 1990 Bin 90A is 68% Coonawarra cabernet and 32% Barossa shiraz, while the 1990 Bin 920 is 65% Coonawarra cabernet with 35% shiraz from the same region. They are 13.0% and 13.5% alcohol by volume and were produced in 1200 and 1250 cases respectively. It’s my view that their integrity, structure and balance gives a firm edge to Bin 60A and its successors, which have proven to live and develop over a longer period than the models based on 620. I’m also of the strong opinion that while there’s no doubt the 1990 Grange is one of the best ever made, the 1990 Bin 90A simply leaves it for dead. Many times more scarce than Grange, it’s fascinating to compare the Special Bin reds to the corresponding Grange from the same vintage. They do well. For the time being at least, they also tend to be considerably cheaper at auction. It is just a shame that none was released from the 1986 vintage, a significantly superior season to 1982.
