TN: 2006 Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet (Australia, South Eastern)

[JimHow]

• 2006 Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet - Australia, South Eastern (1/29/2009)
  13.5% alcohol. Not much on the nose but I'll tell you, I like this better than that (twice the price) '04 Kay Brothers Amery Vineyards shiraz I had the other night. It is cleanly made, not overly hot, with some pepper and nice blackberry notes. (87 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[alchemeus]

OMG!

This was one of my first forays into 'wine'. Koonunga Hill. Used to get it for like $5 per. Back 'In The Day.' Then SouthCorp bought out Penfold and just about everything went into the toilet.

I haven't bought this since 1998 vintage or so. Did SouthCorp revive it?

[JimHow]

I know virtually nothing about this estate, Alch, but it was like 10 bucks at PJs and it garnered a 90 point Wine Advocate rating, so I figured what do I have to lose. The wine is a solid, no-nonsense effort. Not a 90 pointer, but a worthy change of pace.

We uncorked another bottle of that 2007 La Garrigue tonight as well, that is a tremendous value at $12. Very enjoyable.

[alchemeus]

Jim,

That's what it was 'Back In The Day'. A decent wine, guessing most here would give it mid 80 points. A good wine but nothing great. It went into Bad Wine teritory, glad to see it's coming back to decent agin.l

$10 is the new $5.

Ine the Wineverse.

[JimHow]

Yeah when I buy a wine like this I'm not expecting anything profound, I'm just looking for something pleasant, not offensive, best case it goes well with dinner. That '07 Rhone, though, I'm telling you, is an Alchemeus-type-of-wine!

[alchemeus]

Oh sheesh!

Now you HAVE to tell me about his Rhone.

[Corr]

Alch, coincidentally I'm also drinking the '06 Koonunga Hill shiraz-cab tonight. I like it a lot - I got a case of it for $7-something - it's very high quality at that price.

Corr

[alchemeus]

corr,

Glad you like it. It was once a decent wine and very affordable.

I honestly just don't buy any Australian anymore.None. Not for 6 years or more.

[Rieslingfan]

They were serving the Koonunga Hill Cab at a business function the other night. It wasn't bad & went well with the beef they served for dinner.

Not everything Penfolds went downhill with the Southcorp purchase. There's a lot of really good wines being made (e.g. St. Henri Shiraz, some of the 3-digit bin blends like 128, 389).

[DavidG]

I've long been a fan of Bin 389, though I can't recall when I last bought any. What's it go for nowadays?

[Rieslingfan]

I've long been a fan of Bin 389, though I can't recall when I last bought any. What's it go for nowadays?

$25 or so.