BIN 28, CLASSIC WINE FOR CLASSIC EVENTS

Wc16Mar09

david ellis

THERE are few things in life that we buy with absolutely no intention of enjoying for years – in some cases anything up to a decade or more – but good red wine is one of them.

And if you've a milestone family or other event coming up in the next ten or fifteen years, take a tip and stock up now on a few bottles of the just-released 2006 Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz.

This wine, whose own birth created something of a milestone when it came into this world a half century ago from the 1959 vintage, has long been a showcase Aussie Shiraz, and this latest 2006 delivers the classic Bin 28 style to perfection: it is huge on generous spice, dark licorice and chocolate flavours, and there's lovely fruity cranberry acidity and good solid tannins.

Originally 100-per cent Barossa Valley, today's Bin 28 is a multi-region blend, with the Barossa continuing to make up a substantial part of the blend.

Priced at $33.99 a bottle its good buying by the case for that particular milestone in the next ten to fifteen years… and if you are tempted to whip a bottle from the case now just to see how good it is, put it on the table with a hearty Beef Wellington and early-cropping cool-season vegies.

ONE FOR LUNCH:  WINEMAKER Dr Phil Spillman jokes that with the fruity lime, pineapple, quince and custard apple flavours in his 2008 inaugural Deakin Estate Viognier, you should put on an Hawaiian shirt just to drink it.

We're not sure about the shirt, but he's right about this wine that was made without oak, so letting its full-on tropical fruit flavours come to the fore. At just $10 buy a few and create your own "Hawaiian luau" – mix a cup of pineapple juice with a 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 cloves garlic and a teaspoon of fresh ginger, and marinate chicken thighs in this for 30 minutes before cooking on the barbie. And, yes, if you must, put on that shirt.  

(NEED A FOOD/DRINK IDEA? Check out http://www.vintnews.com)
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Photo captions:
 
[] FIFTY years a showcase Aussie Shiraz

[] YOU'll need an Hawaiian shirt to share this one at a barbie