Unleashing The Penfold’s Bin 9 at The Red Party

Words: Edwin Pangestu

Photos: Edwin Pangestu & Marisa Aryani

It was a typical Friday night in Jakarta, and as the last working day, the traffic was worse than any other days. However, nothing can stop me from attending Red Party at Shangrila Hotel’s Satoo in May 28th 2016. Why Red you ask? Because the decoration and the dress code were bloody red, and Penfolds was launching their new red wine: Penfolds Bin 9 Cabernet Sauvignon.

I was greeted with some canape and Penfold Sauvignon Blanc. Surprisingly, their Sauvignon Blanc was truly pleasing to my palate, light, refreshing, with good balance of sweetness and acidity. One of the best Sauvignon Blanc I had for quite some times, and I don't normally love Blancs. The Sauvignon Blanc played a perfect role for appetizer, pairing for salad and to slightly  lift my feet up from the ground a bit, if you know what I mean. 

There are some events and presentation from Penfolds, but I hardly focused to any of them because I was busy checking out their wines and pairing it with foods that are available in Satoo. I had Sliced Rib Eye, Salmon Puff Pastry, pasta Bolognese, and creamy seafood pasta. Apart from the Bolognese, almost all of the food were slightly under-seasoned, or may I say, a bit bland for most Indonesians who got accustomed to very spicy food. People might whine about this, however, when I first sipped my Bin 9, I didn’t complain. It is just my assumption, but  somehow I got the impression that the Penfold’s team was deliberately doing this to match the profile of their new wine variants. And typically, Bin 9 went especially well with the under-seasoned Sliced Rib Eye.

The Tasting Notes

Cabernet Sauvignon is the most popular grape variety for wines, and the taste would vary greatly from many different wine houses. Most of the times, when people said, “tastes like red wine”, most probably they refer to Cabernet Sauvignon. Honestly, because of  its popularity, this type of grape rarely gives me a memorable impression. However, some Cabernet Sauvignon do stands out. Based on my experience most of them are French, and this Australian Cabernet Sauvignon is quite exceptional.

Compared to most Cabernet Sauvignon, Penfolds’ Bin 9 has more deep, complex aroma, slightly drier than the others. The profile was refreshing, but also a bit dark at the same time, I also had some hints of bay leaves, oak and dark chocolate. Somehow, I had the mysterious urge to have some intense cheese such as parmesan to go with this Bin 9. 

Of course, it is not fair to compare New World wines to the Old World ones. But this Bin 9 has this “toned-down” profile that I had from most French Cabernet Sauvignon. I dare anyone to have a blind test between this and any other French counterparts, I would love to see if anyone can tell the difference right away. 

It is a nice thing to have Penfolds’ Bin 8 Cabernet Shiraz for comparison. Honestly speaking, the dry, highly tannic, and spicy Shiraz is my personal’s favorite grape profile, so I might not be totally objective. On most occassions, 7 out of 10 times, I would go with Shiraz. But sometimes, when I go out just for wines, without any food, or when the food was lightly seasoned, Penfolds Bin 9 would be perfect! The Bin 8 had a more bold, tannic, cherry, oaky tasting notes, noticably silkier, smoother body, and longer aftertaste than the Bin 9. I assume it would be perfect for beef steak, lamb or any curry dishes.

Have you seen X-Men: Apocalypse? If wine were women, Bin 8 would the all-out sexy, bold, and mean Olivia Munn’s Psylocke, while Bin 9 is more like Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey. It  is a little bit shy, reserved, but could be powerful as well, or at least, it is slightly bolder than most Cabernet Sauvignon I’ve had. Anyone would be hard-pressed to choose between Olivia Munn or Sophie Turner, fortunately, since these are wines, it is okay to have both. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them.

Verdict

Pros: Deep, complex aroma, dark yet refreshing, slightly dry, has the more sophisticated “toned-down” flavor profile that is identical to those French wines.

Cons: not as sweet as any other Cabernet Sauvignon, which could be troublesome for sweet tooths

Cheers!