The history of Bin No. 0 Shiraz
The evolution of Bin No. 0 began more than 150 years ago when Henry Best planted vines at the Concongella Vineyard in 1868. We believe that Henry adopted from the start the style of labelling of the day. We started to move away from the use of European descriptors in the 1980s. However our first Bin 0 Shiraz didn’t appear until 1990.
So what makes this wine so special? It’s always been produced from our oldest vines. The fruit is selected from the lower yielding blocks of the historic Concongella vineyard at Great Western. This vineyard is home to 19th- and 20th-century Shiraz plantings, which result in low-yielding, intensely flavoured fruit. We hand select, sort and ferment the fruit in small batches followed by intense barrel selection.
Best’s No. 0 is an Australian classic with an impressive pedigree of nearly 150 vintages. It is powerful yet elegant, complex yet harmonious, with many years of great vintages ahead of it yet. Bin 0 has been awarded “Excellent” by Andrew Caillard MW within the esteemed Langton’s Classification.
Once again, with the evolution of the 8th edition of the Langton’s Classification, Best’s are listed amongst some of Australia’s finest wines. Our Thomson Family Shiraz was named in the First Classified and Bin No. 0 Shiraz was included as Classified.
First Classified- The most highly prized of all Australian wines. Representing generations of effort and character of place.
Classified- the best winemaking practices, vineyard governance and regional voice.
When Viv Thomson started making Bin 0 decades ago, it was a different story to how the winery is run these days. His work in the cellar was done by candlelight, with limited electricity, no fermentation control, no new oak and horses carrying out lots of the back-breaking work in the vineyard.
