Australian Wine: Bold Barossa Shiraz, Elegant Margaret River Cabernet and Crisp Cool-Climate Whites

Australian Wine: A Buyer's Guide to Bin 389 & Underhill Shiraz

Quick Guide

My First Serious Australian Shiraz: Penfolds Grange, Around 2000

The first Australian Shiraz that truly made me take the category seriously was Penfolds Grange. I tasted it around 2000. I honestly don't remember exactly where I was, but I do remember the impact it had on me.

Until then, I associated Australian Shiraz with big, ripe wines. Grange showed me something completely different. It had incredible power, yet it was remarkably balanced.

That tasting made me realize Australia wasn't just producing bold wines, it was producing some of the world's truly great fine wines.

Bin 389 carries that same lineage. It's often called "Baby Grange," partly because some of its components mature in the same barrels that held the previous vintage of Grange itself.

That single tasting reshaped how I think about the entire category, and it's part of why I still lead with Bin 389 whenever someone wants to understand what Penfolds, and Australia more broadly, is actually capable of.

Leopoldo's Insight: Shiraz and Syrah Are the Same Grape

Many people think Shiraz and Syrah are different grapes. In reality, they're the same variety. The different names usually reflect a stylistic tradition rather than a different grape.

Saying all Australian Shiraz tastes the same is like saying all Cabernet from California tastes the same, or all Pinot Noir from Burgundy tastes the same.

It's the same grape, but not the same expression. The name on the label tells you something about tradition, but where it's grown tells you much more about how it's going to taste.

Once customers stop asking, "Is it Shiraz or Syrah?" and start asking, "Where does it come from?", the more interesting question opens up.

That naming split itself is mostly historical: Australia adopted "Shiraz" early on and never switched back, while cooler-climate producers around the world, including a growing number in Australia itself, sometimes use "Syrah" specifically to signal a more restrained, Northern Rhône-leaning style.

Bin 389 vs. Yarra Yering: Two Philosophies, Not Two Tiers

The first question I ask is, "What kind of experience are you looking for?"

Bin 389 is a Cabernet-Shiraz blend, so you get the structure and cassis of Cabernet with the richness and spice of Shiraz. It's generous, layered, and built for hearty food.

Yarra Yering Underhill shows another face of Australian Shiraz, more restrained, more aromatic, more about pepper, herbs, and elegance than sheer weight. It's the wine I recommend to someone who says, "I don't think I like Australian Shiraz," because it often changes their mind.

The conversation isn't, "Which one costs more?" It's, "Which style will make you happier tonight?"

Neither bottle is trying to be a better version of the other. They're built by two producers with genuinely different ideas about what makes a great Australian red, and that difference is exactly what makes tasting them side by side so useful.

Tasting Bin 389: A Grilled Ribeye by the Fireplace

The first impression is generosity. Ripe blackberries, cassis, dark chocolate, and baking spices, all present but well integrated, like sitting in a deep leather armchair in front of a fireplace.

Bin 389 is like a perfectly grilled ribeye steak, rich, satisfying, and full of flavor.

That impression holds up across vintages, even as the exact regional mix and Cabernet-to-Shiraz ratio shift slightly from year to year, which is part of the point: consistency of style, not identical fruit every time.

Underhill's Style: Northern Rhône Restraint in Victoria

I haven't tasted this exact bottling myself, so this is based on the style: black pepper, violets, dark cherries, herbs, and subtle spice rather than chocolate and sweet oak, more linear and energetic, closer to a cool-climate Northern Rhône Syrah.

Underhill is more like a perfectly roasted rack of lamb with rosemary and black pepper, powerful, but with more lift, freshness, and nuance.

Both are serious wines. One impresses through generosity, the other through precision.

That framing matters more than it might seem, because the two wines are often judged against the same yardstick when they're really answering two different questions about what makes a red wine compelling in the first place.

Grange: The Wine That Made Australia a Fine Wine Country

Max Schubert began experimenting with what became Grange in 1951, after a trip to Bordeaux convinced him Australian Shiraz could age with the same seriousness as the great wines he'd tasted there.

Early vintages were poorly received by Penfolds management, who reportedly ordered Schubert to stop production entirely. He kept making it in secret for several years before the wine's quality became undeniable.

That stubbornness produced Australia's most iconic wine, and the "Bin" series, including Bin 389, grew directly out of the techniques and philosophy Schubert developed while perfecting it.

Grange remains a benchmark most serious Australian Shiraz gets measured against, whether or not a given wine was ever meant to compete with it directly.

Where Bin 389 Comes From: A Multi-Regional South Australian Blend

Bin 389 was first made in 1960 by the legendary Max Schubert, the same winemaker behind Grange, and it's still named after its original binning compartment at Penfolds' Magill cellars.

Unlike a single-vineyard wine, Bin 389 draws fruit from across South Australia: Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, McLaren Vale, Padthaway, and several other warm-climate regions, blended each year to match a consistent house style.

Schubert's original ambition, according to Penfolds' own records, was building "a dynasty of wines which all bear an unmistakable resemblance to each other," and Bin 389 has held that consistency since its first vintage.

Schubert always favored warmer-climate fruit for the wine, which is part of why Bin 389 leans toward the generous, richly fruited side of Australian Shiraz rather than the restrained, cool-climate end of the spectrum.

The blend ratio shifts slightly by vintage, generally somewhere close to an even split between Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, which is exactly why Bin 389 carries both Cabernet's backbone and Shiraz's warmth in the same glass.

Where Underhill Comes From: One Block, Planted in 1973

Yarra Yering was founded in 1969 by Dr. Bailey Carrodus, an Oxford-trained botanist who spent years searching for the right site before settling on the Yarra Valley, east of Melbourne.

His first commercial vintage, in 1973, was the first wine made in the Yarra Valley since the region collapsed in the early 20th century, done in by phylloxera and a national shift toward fortified wine.

By 1937, the entire Yarra Valley had been converted to dairy farming, and the last commercial vines had been pulled out entirely. Carrodus was effectively restarting one of Australia's oldest wine regions from nothing.

The Underhill block itself was planted that same year, 1973, by a neighboring grower named Ivan Vlasic-Sostaric, and Yarra Yering bought the adjacent 8-hectare parcel in the late 1980s.

Those old, dry-grown Shiraz vines sit on one of the Yarra Valley's most respected slopes, unirrigated and low-yielding, the same combination that gives Underhill its concentration without ever tipping into heaviness.

Carrodus passed away in 2008, and winemaker Sarah Crowe, named James Halliday's Winemaker of the Year in 2017, has continued the estate's cool-climate, minimal-intervention philosophy ever since.

Our California Pinot Noir guide covers a similar cool-climate philosophy from a different hemisphere, if that contrast interests you.

Leopoldo's Wine Tips: Choosing Between the Two Styles

1. Ask what the occasion calls for, not which is "better." Bin 389 and Underhill are two different philosophies of the same grape, not two tiers of quality.

2. Remember Shiraz and Syrah are the same grape. The name tells you about tradition. Where it's grown tells you far more about how it will taste.

3. If someone says they don't like Australian Shiraz, try Underhill. A cool-climate style often changes their mind entirely.

4. Match the wine to the cut of meat. Bin 389 for a thick ribeye. Underhill for roast lamb, duck, or something a little more refined.

5. Don't judge the whole category by one bottle from twenty years ago. Some of the most exciting Shiraz being made anywhere in the world is coming out of Australia right now.

Barossa vs. Yarra Valley: Why Climate Changes Everything

I like pointing to Yarra Valley because it's one of the clearest examples of a cooler-climate style. The wines tend to be more aromatic, peppery, fresh, and restrained.

If the conversation continues, I'll sometimes mention Eden Valley or Adelaide Hills as other regions producing more elegant, cooler expressions.

For most people, understanding the contrast between Barossa and Yarra Valley makes the rest of the country's regions make a lot more sense. Once that clicks, Australian Shiraz stops feeling like a single style.

Barossa's warm, low-altitude valleys ripen fruit generously and reliably, the classic engine behind wines like Bin 389. Yarra Valley's higher elevation and proximity to the Southern Ocean does the opposite, stretching the growing season and preserving acidity.

That same warm-region-versus-cool-region logic shows up almost everywhere in wine, from Napa versus the Sonoma Coast to Barossa versus Yarra Valley. Our Piedmont wine guide walks through a similar regional contrast within a single Italian region.

What You're Actually Paying for in This Comparison

Fifteen or twenty years ago, I probably would have said Australian Shiraz was a little overrated. Today, I think the category is actually underrated.

I don't think Australian Shiraz is overvalued. I think it's often misunderstood. Too many people are still judging today's wines by a stereotype that no longer represents the category.

Bin 389 offers real, multi-regional Penfolds craftsmanship at a price well below Grange itself. Underhill offers single-block, old-vine intensity from one of the Yarra Valley's most respected sites, also at a fraction of what comparable cool-climate icons from Burgundy or the Northern Rhône would cost.

That gap between quality and price is exactly the kind of opportunity that shows up whenever a wine region's reputation lags behind what its best producers are actually doing.

Bin 389 in particular has built its own track record for cellaring, with critics regularly noting its ability to age gracefully for a decade or more, a quality usually reserved for wines priced well above it.

Serving Bin 389 and Underhill

Serve Bin 389 at 60-65°F, and give it 30 minutes to an hour of air, especially a younger vintage. Its Cabernet backbone benefits from that time to soften.

Underhill shows best a touch cooler, closer to 58-62°F, which keeps its peppery, aromatic lift sharp rather than letting alcohol dominate the glass.

A standard red wine glass works for both, though a slightly wider bowl helps Underhill's more delicate aromatics, rose, pepper, dark cherry, open up the way it would in a cool-climate Syrah from the Northern Rhône.

Both wines reward a real decant if you're opening a younger vintage, and both have genuine cellaring potential if you'd rather wait a few years before pulling the cork.

Food Pairing: Ribeye for One, Roast Chicken for the Other

For Penfolds Bin 389, I immediately think of food with intensity: a grilled ribeye, slow-smoked brisket, lamb chops, short ribs, or even venison. It also works beautifully with aged cheddar, Comté, or Gouda.

Yarra Yering Underhill takes me in a more elegant direction: roast chicken, grilled pork, wild mushrooms, duck breast, or lamb seasoned with rosemary. It doesn't need the biggest cut of meat on the menu.

Bin 389 is the wine for a big dinner when everyone is hungry and the steaks are thick. Yarra Yering is the bottle for a quieter dinner where the food is a little more refined.

Neither pairing is a strict rule. They're a starting point for matching a wine's basic personality, generous or precise, to a dish with a similar personality, which tends to work more reliably than memorizing specific combinations.

If you're planning a dinner that moves from something rich to something lighter, or the other way around, these two bottles actually work well served side by side, letting guests taste the range of what Australian Shiraz can do in a single evening.

Why Buy Australian Wine from MR.D Wine

This Australian wine collection is built around contrast on purpose: Bin 389's iconic power next to Underhill's finesse, in a single, focused comparison.

For another honest look at a legendary reputation next to a more accessible bottle from the same country, our Vega Sicilia guide covers similar ground from Spain.

And for more on how the same grape can read completely differently depending on where it's grown, our Red Wine guide maps that idea across six very different styles.

The goal with a pairing like this one is the same every time: give a customer two genuinely different, genuinely serious answers to the same question, rather than one bottle and a marketing story built around it.

Australian Wine FAQs

Are Shiraz and Syrah the same grape?

Yes. The different names reflect stylistic tradition, not a different grape. Where it's grown tells you far more about the wine than which name happens to be on the label.

What's the difference between Bin 389 and Underhill?

Bin 389 is a generous, multi-regional Cabernet-Shiraz blend from South Australia. Underhill is a single-block, cool-climate Shiraz from the Yarra Valley, more restrained and peppery.

Why is Bin 389 called "Baby Grange"?

Because some of its components are matured in the same barrels that previously held Grange, Penfolds' flagship wine, and it shares the same multi-regional blending philosophy Max Schubert developed.

Is Australian Shiraz always big and jammy?

No, and that stereotype no longer represents the category. Cool-climate regions like the Yarra Valley, Eden Valley, and Adelaide Hills produce restrained, aromatic Shiraz built on freshness rather than sheer weight.

Which should I try if I don't usually like Australian Shiraz?

Yarra Yering Underhill. Its cool-climate, peppery style often changes the mind of someone who assumes the whole category tastes heavy and jammy.

What should I pair with Bin 389?

Grilled ribeye, slow-smoked brisket, lamb chops, short ribs, venison, or aged cheeses like cheddar, Comté, or Gouda.

What should I pair with Underhill?

Roast chicken, grilled pork, wild mushrooms, duck breast, or lamb seasoned with rosemary, dishes that don't need the wine to compete with a heavy cut of meat.

Is Australian Shiraz overrated or underrated right now?

Underrated. As more producers shift toward restraint and site-specific winemaking, the category no longer matches the stereotype many drinkers still carry from decades ago.