96 Points - James Halliday Wine Companion 

"A 51/49% blend from the Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, McLaren Vale, Padthaway and Wrattonbully, matured for 12 months in American hogsheads (37% new). Good colour, although not as striking as some of the other wines in the range; Likewise retains some elegance despite the clarion call of the cascade of fruit flavours. The fruit, oak, tannin and acid balance is impeccable, as is the length and drive of the palate. The savoury subtext is equally good."

96 Points - Huon Hooke, The Real Review

"Deep, dense red/purple colour, with a bouquet of rich spice and chocolate and dark fruit aromas all well-balanced in the mix. The berries of cabernet and the earthy/spice of shiraz are both identifiable. It's a very full-bodied, rich, dense, concentrated wine, with lashings of tannins which are firm and gripping on the finish. A very long carry. A very big wine, massively structured and impressive, with great power and ageing potential. A wine that manages to tread the fine line between big structure and softness and accessibility. Still, I would cellar it a few years before broaching. (51% cabernet sauvignon, 49% shiraz) Drink 2021 to 2046"

96 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front 

"Bin 389 cracks the ton, in asking price terms. The rich (wo)man’s, poor (wo)man’s drink. Grapes sourced from Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, McLaren Vale, Padthaway and Wrattonbully. You don’t hear so much of Padthaway, that salty old dog, nowadays but it’s still important to the Penfolds red wine stable. 51% cabernet sauvignon, 49% shiraz. All American oak. Ah now you’ve done it. Stop it, just stop it. You look at the Bin 407 release from this vintage and think: that’s how it’s done. And then you add shiraz, and call it Bin 389, and the palate is boosted, the length is still there, the tobacco notes still light up, and with vanilla and cherry-plum notes tickling the cassis into a riot it suddenly feels irrepressible, like the premiership’s a cakewalk. It’s not a John Holmes wine; it’s not overdone. It’ a wine to slip through your defences, is what it is. It’s a cracker. This is why you blend cabernet with shiraz."

96 Points James Suckling

"The personality of this warmer-vintage Bin 389 is big, bold and welcoming. Coal smoke and graphite intertwine with blackberry, cassis, woody and leafy notes. Some Chinese five spice, too. The palate is delivered with fine, sweeping and long, smooth tannins that carry a supple array of mainly blackberry and roasted-coffee flavors. Powerful yet silky, super long and smooth, building to an exceptionally tidy finish. This is an assembly of 51 per cent cabernet sauvignon and 49 per cent shiraz, sourced from Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, McLaren Vale, Padthaway and Wrattonbully. Long aging potential. Drink now or hold."

95 Points - Andrew Caillard Master of Wine 

"Medium deep colour. Classical Bin 389 with fresh blackcurrant, blackberry, dark chocolate aromas and roasted chestnut, mocha notes. Deep set dark chocolate, elderberry, blackcurrant fruits , plentiful fine chocolatey textures, lovely mid palate buoyancy and mocha, roasted coconut oak complexity. Finishes long and fruit sweet with a bitter firm chocolatey plume."

94 Points Decanter

"The so-called ‘Baby Grange’, Bin 389 is a Penfolds icon and a peerless example of the traditional Aussie blend. It's matured for 12 months in American oak, partly in previous-vintage Grange casks. Behind the youthful ruby hue lies a terrific red whose gently smoky, spicy cedar and liquorice aromas are highly perfumed and intense. On the palate it shows a promising youthful vigour in its richly concentrated, opulent cassis and blackberry fruit. It has a fine, smooth texture, with chocolatey depth, good complexity and spice aplenty, all supported by a fine spine of damson acidity and the sinewy tannin structure that awaits instructions to settle down. One for bollito misto and salsa verde."

91 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

"The 2016 Cabernet / Shiraz Bin 389 is a blend of 51% Cabernet and 49% Shiraz, the least amount of Cabernet you'll ever see in this bottling. It's dark and stolid, with notes of cassis and blackberry along with touches of vanilla and cedar. Full-bodied and dense, it's firmly in the Penfolds style and the style of this particular bottling, which always ages well, even if it's not the flashiest or most flamboyant offering from Penfolds."