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1964 Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon was Penfolds first commercial release of a single cabernet-based wine. After a stop-start beginning, it is regarded today as one of Australia’s most important cabernets; a distinct Penfolds house style and a foil to the great regional Cabernets of Coonawarra and Margaret River. Jeremy Oliver, a leading Australian wine critic describes Bin 707 as “Penfold’s most eloquent expression of Cabernet Sauvignon” and one of 18 “Grand Cru” type wines which "define the limits of contemporary Australian wine.” It is also rated Exceptional alongside Grange in Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine.
When Max Schubert returned to Australia from his extensive tour of Europe in 1949, his thoughts were never far from Cabernet. He had visited many of the great Chateaux of Bordeaux and had been very impressed by the wines. Christian Cruse, head of the distinguished negociant firm Cruse Freres et Fils was particularly influential. Schubert was able to observe winemaking practices at his properties including partial fermentation and maturation in new oak. Having seen similar practices in Spain, he was inspired to use similar techniques at Penfolds. Indeed Penfolds Kalimna Vineyard, acquired in 1945, comprised some of the world’s oldest surviving genetic cabernet material. Block 42 was planted around 1888. These original direct producing Cabernet Sauvignon vines still going strong, have been isolated from the ravages of the vine pest phylloxera which destroyed many great vineyards during the 1890s.
In 1948 Max Schubert, recently appointed senior winemaker made a “one-off" single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Max Lake – author of the seminal work Classic Wines of Australia wrote in 1966. “It is becoming magnificent and can only be compared to the big Cabernet wines of Europe.” Two bottles of 1948 Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon surfaced at an auction in Sydney in 1987. The wine was unearthed with other rare Australain vintages from Max Lake’s cellar at Greenwich. The wine, probably blended and bottled on Max Schubert’s return, was never released commercially. This may explain the scarcity of the wine. It has never been seen since a memorable Royal Sydney Wine Show dinner. One of the auction bottles which had been given to John Duval by the successful auction purchaser (a Queensland wine merchant) was tasted by several wine judges including Rewards of Patience panel members James Halliday, Huon Hooke and Andrew Caillard. Despite the evolution of winemaking practice and time the wine, with duck-egg coloured capsule was unmistakably Penfolds; it had classic mature sweet fruit characters, chocolaty tannins and superb flavour length.
Max Schubert, who was based at Magill regularly experimented with Cabernet, at one stage hoping that it would form the backbone of Grange. The experimental 1952 and 1953 Grange Cabernets were also made largely from Block 42 fruit. Schubert revisited Kalimna Cabernet every year but the trials were inconsistent. The fruit was used mostly for blending material including early vintages of Grange. By the early 1960s Max Schubert revisited the question of a Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon. 1960 Bin 630 Kalimna Cabernet Adelaide Hills Mataro, 1961 Bin 58 Cabernet, 1963 Bin 64 Cabernet and 1963 Bin 511 Kalimna Cabernet Ouillade were all precursors to Bin 707.
The release of 1964 Bin 707 began a false dawn of only six successive vintages. While the Block 42 vines were over 80 years old, the fruit quality was inconsistent to justify an on-going single vineyard cabernet. Nonetheless the 1964 was well received by critics of the day. Doug Crittenden, his family wine business in Melbourne celebrating 50 years, purchased parcels of the same wine and bottled it in Melbourne as Crittenden’s Celebration Reserve 1964 Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon. Len Evans the distinguished Australian wine show judge, said in note number 18 of The Wine Buyer (1968). “It is one of the best red wines I have tasted for some time, being light and balanced, yet it will undoubtedly improve for some years and should develop into a wine that will long be remembered.” All of these wines were open fermented under wax lined header boards. However invariably they were matured in seasoned rather than new oak. Penfolds sourced other Barossa material from 1967 but after the disappointing 1969 vintage, the line was abandoned.
The inconsistency of quality fruit supply and a niggling, but practical concern about house style and the spectrum of cool climate Cabernet fruit aromas, flavours and structure was a constant theme during the 1960s and early 1970s. While the variety showed enormous promise, Coonawarra was in the process of rediscovery and Margaret River was a viticultural back lot. By the release of the 1976 vintage, the first to use Coonawarra fruit, such concerns had been largely sorted out. Within a few years Penfolds Bin 707 was already achieving strong support and recognition as a benchmark Australian Cabernet. Don Ditter Penfolds Chief Winemaker of the time said, “The original Bin 707 was a marvellous wine, it comprised mostly Block 42 Cabernet. The first releases had the richness and ripeness expected of warm to hot climate fruit. A gradual move to Coonawarra during the 1980s changed it to a more elegant cool-climate wine. During the mid 1990s it seems to have reverted back to its original style; a distinctive Penfolds wine divorced from other Australian Cabernets.”
The overall winemaking philosophy and barrel maturation of Bin 707 is almost identical to Grange; both are direct descendants and beneficiaries of Max Schubert’s experimental wines of the 1950s and 1960s. The wine is vinified in open stainless steel fermenters with wax lined wooden header boards to optimise extraction of colour and flavour. All components are partially barrel fermented in new seasoned American oak hogsheads for a period of 18 months.
The modern Bin 707 represents the Penfolds House red wine style at its most rich and powerful. The Cabernet fruit is largely drawn from South Australian vineyards in Coonawarra, Padthaway, Barossa Valley (including the famed Block 42 vineyard) and increasingly from Bordertown. Everything about Bin 707 is large scale. Winemakers seek fully ripe fruit with strong flavours derived from partial barrel fermentation and maturation in new American oak hogsheads for a period of 18 months. This explanation of style shows why Penfolds will not make Bin 707 in difficult or more elegant years where the fruit profile is underpowered, sinewy or out of character. 1981, 1995, 2000 and 2003 were not made. Some observers will note that both 2000 and 2003 were generally good vintages in Coonawarra. However the style still relies on the contribution of warmer climate fruit, particularly Block 42 and Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon for overall richness and density.
The search and meanings of bin numbers can always yield surprises. Rowan Waddy an ex Qantas executive and member of Australia’s Z Force during WW2, christened Bin 707 after the Boeing 707, the aircraft that brought Australia closer to the rest of the world during the 1960s. A Bin 747 was also released but was discontinued in 1975. It should be pointed out, however, that brand marketing was in its infancy and that few would have predicted that Penfolds Bin numbers would carry so much cachet in the future. Bin 707 is an immensely concentrated style with dark berry/dark chocolate fruit balanced by well-seasoned new oak, plenty of fruit sweetness and strong, but not overwhelming tannins. This is a medium to long-term cellaring style of wine. If you can wait the distance, Bin 707 builds up into a wonderfully complex and interesting wine.
American wine critic and publisher of Wine & Spirit US, Josh Greene said that “Bin 707 shows the virtue of blending. While the older wines were quite muscular and broad shouldered, the style has steadily improved. The real changes begin around 1996 and 1998. The wines have more substance and balance.” Australian wine writer James Halliday agreed; ‘The last decade of vintages has seen more home runs. The wines show massive fruit sweetness and the tannin quality is riper and more integrated.”
The development of Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon mirrors the advances in winemaking and viticulture. It has always been a beacon of progress and uncompromising excellence; each release has always received strong critical support as a benchmark of the time. From the reintroduction of the 1976 vintage – Bin 707 has always been given the full Grange-type treatment. Over the last decade, however, Bin 707 has become a stridently confident style; “the wines are now reaching a similar level of quality and the potential longevity expected of a great Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon.”
Andrew Caillard MW
Langton's
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