Deep, dense red/purple colour leads into a rich, ripe, chocolaty bouquet, which has background blackberry and dark plum notes, as well as hints of graphite and tar. A classic Bin 28, full-bodied, rich, rounded and structured for ageing, although it drinks well already.
Huon Hooke

Medium deep crimson. Classic dark chocolate dark berry aromas with roasted walnut, shellac notes. Lovely fresh inky, mulberry, blackberry fruits, fine looseknit chocolaty tannins, and underlying roasted nut/savoury notes. Finishes chocolaty and long with red liquorice, aniseed nuances. A very stylish "go-to” claret type with all of the hallmarks of the Penfolds house style. Ripe fruit, richness of flavour, concentration and chocolaty textures. Although drinking well, keep for a few years

Matured for 12 months in used American oak. Like all the Penfolds '16 red wines, flawless colour and clarity heralds a bouquet that leaps out of the glass with a heady perfume of roses, bramble, spice and licorice. The palate duly delivers an effortless wave of dark chocolate, cherry and licorice

"It's mandated at Penfolds releases that at some point the word spotless must be employed. Here it is. A spotless impression of plum jam, creamy-vanilla whipped over the top, spice notes thrown in to give the party some variety. This wine takes freshness, the Penfolds house style, big company resources, gut-busting volume and good old fashioned attention-to-detail and somehow spits out the perfect consumer-friendly red wine. This is modern Australia in a bottle, in the way it presents fresh berried fruit, history cuddled within. It's a pitch perfect Bin 28. It sits on the warmer, boozier, jammier end of what we expect from this label, so be warned, but volume of fruit and that creamy smoothness.
Campbell Mattinson

A warm, early harvest has delivered a wine with more dried, baked blackberries and plums, reflecting the DNA of Penfolds style, and a wine that makes a more savory, spicy and earthy impression than the previous 2015 release. The palate is assuredly rich and round with blackberry and dark plum-pastry flavors, layered on silky, dense and rich, ripe tannins. Long and mellow. Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Padthaway, Upper Adelaide, Wrattonbully fruit sourcing.