97 Point Rated - Bob Campbell The Real Review

"Padthaway, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra, Wrattonbully & Barossa Valley. I'm a card-carrying member of the Bin 389 lovers club. Known affectionately as baby Grange, Bin 389 has just celebrated its 60th birthday. This youthful example is one of the better vintages I have tried but if you think it is good now, wait and see what it tastes like in another decade or two."

96 Point Rated - Andrew Caillard MW

"Deep crimson. Fresh blackcurrant, mulberry, black cherry, dark chocolate aromas with roasted chestnut, cedar, liquorice notes. Full bodied and evenly balanced wine with inky cassis, mulberry black cherry fruits, fine grainy slightly grippy tannins, attractive mid-palate volume and roasted chestnut cedar wood notes. Finishes vigorously firm with plentiful sweet fruit notes. Quite muscular in attack but has the density and the richness to carry the tannins. A dark horse vintage with the shape of Bin 389 and the torque of Bin 707."

96 Point Rated - Tyson Stelzer James Halliday Wine Companion

"53/47% cabernet sauvignon/shiraz; from Padthaway, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra, Wrattonbully and the Barossa Valley. Matured 12 months in 25% new American oak hogsheads. There is a resolute conviction to Bin 389, a confident assuredness that transcends its seasons like no other wine around it in the Penfolds line-up, its consistency grounded in the almost even marriage of its 2 constituents. The 2019 vintage exemplifies this, a seamless harmony between the tension and fine-boned structure of cabernet and the body and depth of shiraz, yet embraced here in seamlessly interlocked harmony. A sea of glorious Penfolds tannins float a finish that is both expansive and far-reaching. Another grand 389 for the cellar!"

96 Point Rated - Huon Hooke The Real Review

"Deep, dense, glass staining red/purple colour. The bouquet is very savoury mixing earthy, spicy, blackstrap licorice and toasty-barrel nuances, the palate savoury and drying, the more sapid and less fruity aspects typical of of the Bin 389 style. There is a blackberry and cassis cabernet note in there too, when you hunt for it. Great intensity, concentration and focus, elegant, taut and long-lingering. A classic 389, ageworthy and very much in the style groove. (53% cabernet, 47% shiraz. Padthaway, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra, Wrattonbully, Barossa Valley)"

96 Point Rated - Ken Gargett winepilot.com

"389. Never ever lets you down. Sourced from Padthaway, McLaren Vale, the Barossa, Wrattonbully and Coonawarra, this vintage is 53% Cabernet and 47% Shiraz. 12 months in American hogsheads, a quarter of them new. 

Dark magenta with a purple rim. Early days, of course, but this wine is already exhibiting more complexity than most. Warm earth, animal hide, truffles, dark chocolate, beautifully integrated oak, a hint of garden herbs and of a malty chocolate note. Such a gorgeous seductive character. Seamless and supple. Bright acidity in the background. The intensity is maintained on a very long finish. Silky tannins and plenty of them. Good concentration. This wine is so well structured and so impressively balanced. This is a 389 which offers a great deal now but so much more if you can put it away for a decade or two."

96 Point Rated - Tony Love winepilot.com

"A wine for Penfolds’ true believers. “Claret” for the modern era. Stating the case for multi-regional styling. This is fabulous from the first whiff, with so much going on in its complex expression that wafts from cabernet’s aromatic herbal notes then settle into the vintage’s savoury suggestions – some meatiness and charcuterie for instance – then mocha of course, and delicious little pokes of sweet plum bringing the shiraz fruit into focus. The synergy of the blend become singular, wrapped up in a mouthful of integrated tannins. All round."

95 Point Rated - Campbell Mattinson The Wine Front

"Grapes sourced from Padthaway, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra, Wrattonbully and the Barossa Valleyy. 53% cabernet sauvignon, 47% shiraz. All American oak, 25% new.

Seamless release. It draws everything together in the most agreeable of ways. Currants and plums, mint and various fragrant herbs, vanilla, cedar, blood orange and licorice. The sweet core of fruit is extended by the tannin rather than abrupted. It’s in the zone. It feels complete. And that blood orange note, choc-orange almost but not quite, evident on both the nose and in the mouth, is quite mesmerizingly delicious."

95 Point Rated - David Sly Decanter Magazine

95 Point Rated - Angus Hughson winepilot.com

"Known as Baby Grange, as some of the wine is aged in ex-grange barrels, Bin 389 has a significant pedigree for long aging, and this is no exception. It shows good colour and fruit concentration although the wine is clearly also at the beginning of a long life. Graphite, roasted meat, white pepper, blackberry and wintergreen aromas are well supported and integrated with American oak. The palate is then reserved rather than forceful – with some fleshy fruits matched by a darker and more savoury underbelly. There is also a quiet confidence thanks to superb fruit balance with the firm tannins of the vintage providing a tense backbone while supporting a long and complex finish. It’s a dark horse that is a little closed right now but has all the features in place for a long drinking future."

18.5 Point Rated - Matthew Jukes matthewjukes.com