Source: jamessuckling.com. Issue Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2022 (JS-94)

This wine continues its ascent of quality and this 2020 vintage has appealing confidence in terms of fruit, showing concentration, depth, ripeness and presence. Aromas of red plum, mulberry and blackberry flow faithfully through to the palate. Supple, pliable tannins and an impressively elegant shape runs deep into the finish. A great Bin 128! Drink over the next decade or more.

Source: July 2022 Week 3, The Wine Advocate; Issue Date: 21st Jul 2022 (RP-92)

This fruit for the 2020 Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz is from Coonawarra as usual, matured for 12 months in French hogsheads (20% new). The nose is aromatically layered with blood plum, raspberry, red licorice and blueberries and loaded with exotic spice and pink peppercorns. This is a gorgeous wine—totally supple and blue fruited, but all in balance with savory tannin. Elegance 101. For now, it is still frisky and energetic—give it a year to let it settle down.
Drink Date 2023 - 2032

Source: Winemaker,

With each vintage release the cool-climate Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz provides an interesting counterpoint to the more opulent and richly concentrated warm climate Kalimna Bin 28 Shiraz. Bin 128 comprises fruit sourced from the unique terra rossa soils of Coonawarra, a region that exemplifies the perfume, transparency and seductive nature of cool-climate red table wines. Coonawarra has remained the source of shiraz fruit for Bin 128 since the inaugural release of the 1962 vintage. In order to further enhance the regional qualities of Bin 128, the wine is matured in a mixture of new and seasoned French oak hogsheads, alevage that was refined during the 1980's when the transition was made from American to French oak.

FLAVOURS AND PALATE
Medium-bodied well-proportioned, yet not big. Layered.
Appetising, juicy ... laced with cracked black pepper, red spices (Hungarian paprika) and caraway.
A skerrick of (cherrywood) oak and brick-dust tannins verging on chalky
Fruits evident, yet the savouries beckon greater attention (glazed meats, green olive, capers).
Yet another manifestation of the flavours and structure of cooler-climate French oak-matured shiraz ... channelled viaa Penfolds winemaking lens.