1962 Bin 60A Cabernet Shiraz

No Penfolds wine has enjoyed more triumphs than Bin 60A, winning a total of 19 trophies.

It was the only New World wine to make the top 10 when Decanter listed its greatest wines of all time, in August 2004.

Like so many top Australian wines, this is a cross-regional blend, uniting cool-climate Cabernet Sauvignon from Sharams' Block and Block 20 in Coonawarra (planted on the famous terra rossa soils) with the decidedly warm-climate, original Shiraz blocks from the Kalimna Vineyard in the Barossa Valley, which lies on sandy soils in the western part of the valley. Kalimna has long been an important component in the Grange blend.

The wine was produced at Penfolds Magill Estate, outside Adelaide in South Australia. It was foot-crushed, say some witnesses, and then fermented in wax-lined concrete vats equipped with wooden boards that would keep the cap submerged to assist extraction.

Stephen Brook, Decanter, July 30, 2017

Number 7

'100 Wines To Try Before You Die': Decanter Magazine (UK)

100/100

Wine Spectator Magazine (US)

99/100

This was a particularly great bottle of 1962 Penfolds Bin 60A, a wine I've had the privilege to taste twice before.

The nose is ethereal, perfumed with exotic spices, potpourri, frankincense, rose hip tea, tobacco, leather and smoked game with a remaining whiff of kirsch.

Delicate in style and yet richly fruited in the mouth, it offers layer upon layer of spice, tea and dried fruit flavors with a very long finish textured by the faintest suggestion of lingering silky tannins.

Lisa Perrotti-Brown, www.erobertparker.com, May 2012