To dejavu2003,

If you willing to AUD100 a bottle then there are a lot of good Aussie wine for you to select. Try Peter Lehmann Stonewell Shiraz or Penfolds RWT, Yalumba Octivaus. You can find these wine in Australia around AUD100, these brands are considered as preimum wine from South Australia, the quality is much better, even much better than French wine. If you want to have similar quality French wine then I guess you need to pay 3 times more.

To dejavu2003,

Have you tried all of them? I have tried all of them and this Wendouree is good but not as you mentioned the best of the best. Penfolds RWT is much better. The best of the best Australian red wine should Penfolds Grange or Henschke Hill of Grace. If you get a chance try all of them then you will know.

To dejavu2003

May be Wendouree is good cellared after 25 years but who knows the quality at that time and it also highly depends on how you keep it, agree? To me I will not wait for 25 years to taste the wine, who knows what happen tomorrow.

For Penfolds RWT and Bin 707, these two wines are compeltely different. Bin 707 is Cab. Sau and it is the flagship Cab. Sau for Penfolds, it is a "powerful" wine. For RWT, it is Shiraz and of course the flagship Shiraz of Penfolds is Grange, but the RWT has it own character and it is also a full body wine but not similar to Bin 707 style, it really worth it for this value; of course both RWT & Bin 707 is great wine.

I have tried all the wine you mentioned above, to me Penfolds Grange is the best of the best. Of course, this will depends on what year and it is only my personally opinion. One comment, don't trust those articles in the wine magzines too much. Trust yourself and taste it with your own tongue and mouth. I have seen some articles in a Chinese wine magzine and the content is exactly same as what have mentioned in some wine books in English, the writer just take a bit from each books and translate it to Chinese.

To kenzo1111,

Penfold's Bin 389 and St. Henri Shiraz are also very good for normal function drinking. If you got a chance try the year 96 Bin 389 and also year 2001 St. Henri, these two years are outstanding year. Of course, I will only drink those premium like Grange, RWT, Hill of Grace in some special evening. If I'm rich enough like Mr. Lee Ka Shing then I'll drink Grange every day.  

To tailawyau,
Sorry I feel sharing the tasting note is useless as what I taste is different from what you think, so I suggest you try it by yourself. Like myself, I hate Merlot and I like Shiraz, Cab. Sau very much, it is true and no point argue, just try it and you can tell me later which one like the most. But I can't tell you the quality of South Australia red wine (Barossa) is great; you will need to pay at 3 times more for the similar quality French wine. Yes the good French wine is very good but you must go for the very expensive one, if you go for the French wine less than HK$500 for just 1 bottle, I will prefer spend my money to get two bottles of Penfold's Bin 389 or 407.

This is my own opinion.

To : 資深球迷2世

You don't have to feel shame, the most important point of drinking wine is you enjoy the wine. As long as you like the wine you are drinking and feel good, that's enough and not necessary go for expensive wine. For the Big 5, who care? Yes, they may be good for someone but may not for everyone's taste, but the price is too expensive and i feel not worth it.

A lot of people talk about the so called Big 5 French wines, but how many really taste it? Yes good French wine is good provided that you have to pay 3 to 4 times higher than Australian wine with the same quality. I have tasted the so called Big 5 French wines, but I can tell you these so called Big 5 French wines are very good in marketing, I hope you understand what I mean.  

For the wines in supermarket, what is your budget and have you ever tasted Penfold's Bin 407 before? It is only around HKD250, you can get it in supermarket. I would say this is the best wine in supermarket. If you buy red wine in supermarket most of the time, then I would suggest you select Australian wine, I can guarantee you will enjoy more.

To 資深球迷2世  

Try some larg PK and Welcome shops and you will find it. Penfold's Bin 28 is Ok for daily drinking but it is shiraz where Bin 407 is Cab. Sau, it is completely different. If you get the chance find the Bin 407, let it breath for 30 to 45 mins before drinking then you will enjoy it. Just let me know if you like it or not after tasting it, don't have to share your tasting note as I find this is stupid because the sructure of your tongue and mouth are different from mine.

To : dejavu2003

Penfolds is really a good brand and after drinking so many different brand, I feel the quality is very good and stable, I feel the pirce i paid is worth it. If you know any other wines with similar quality as Penfolds Bin 407 and same price then let me know, up to date I would say I haven't found one yet.  

To 資深球迷2世  
Penfolds Bin 407 is Cab. Sau, if your wife do not drink red wine very often then she may find it too "powerful" or "muscular". Then I would suggest you try Penfolds Bin 389, this is Cab. Shiraz and Penfolds call it "Baby Grange"; but the price is a bit more expensive and it should be around HKD350. FYI, Penfolds Bin 389 is the favourite red wine of my girl friend. She is from Europe and taste many red wines from France, Italy and Spain already and she said it is very difficult to find a French red wine with the same price can beat Penfolds Bin 389. Anyway, hope you enjoy the wine you selected in your wife's coming birthday.

To: dejavu2003

Well, if you are an Aussie then I guess you know most of the things about Penfolds already. Frankly speaking, I would say the red wines from Penfolds are really worth to try and the quality is much better than a lot of French wines.

I have tried yr. 98 Bin 389, it is grreat. There are two red wines from Penfolds I haven't tried yet up to date, they are Magill Estate Shiraz and the Block 42, it is very difficult to find these two red wines even in Australia. Do you have these two and where you get it in Australia?

To : dejavu2003  

The bottle shop you go to is in HK or Australia? I will only drink the red wine from Penfolds as I know theri white is not as good as their red since long time ago. The red wines from Torbreck are also great but very difficult to find it in HK, also not so many people know this Aussie red wine though.

To : dejavu2003  

I know Sydney very well and you can tell me where is the bottle shop, I will try to find it next time when I'm Sydney. I just came back from Sydney 3 weeks ago and i got a bottle of yr. 2000 Peter Lehmann Stonewell Shiraz, that is a great wine!

For Torbreck, it is a very good wine but not common in HK (even not common in Australia I thinkl). I have checked Watson and they don't carry it. I have tried Torbreck The Factor, Struie before, excellent wine!! I'm planning to try their "Flagship" red wine - RunRig later.

To me, I knew Penfolds is not because of their success in marketing. I start drinking Penfolds since I was 18 yrs. old when I was a student in Australia. I have worked in Europe and US, tried so many different red wines already, to me I think the red wine from Australia is the best in terms of value of money and quality; Penfolds is my favourite brand. If people ask for my suggestion, I always suggest them try Penfolds Bin 407 and Bin 389 as I think they will enjoy it when you consider both quality and the price.