Penfolds Grange 2019
Penfolds Grange Bin 95, 2019
The most powerful expression of Penfolds' multi-vineyard, multi-district blending philosophy, Grange is arguably Australia's most celebrated wine. Made using fully ripe, intensely flavoured and structured shiraz grapes.
Winemaking: Blend of the best grapes from vineyards in the Barossa Valley, Maclaren Valley, Coonawarra and Clare Valley. Aged for 19 months in oak
Tasting Notes: Penfolds Grange on the nose, highlights a cloak of condensed and glazed fruit surrenders to reveal a fresher disposition ... a coulis of berries and stone fruit; boiled beetroot. Unsurprisingly, the aroma of ground coffee, potato shavings/juice also rises.
The palate is fresh and balanced. Neither overdone nor overripe - the bright blueberry and other young blue/black fruits counteract the maturation chronology of this seductive blend.
Certainly befitting this style, the unmistakable barrel fermentation characters are undoubtedly more pronounced on the palate than on the nose. Correct acidity favours juiciness and mouthfeel.
Grape varieties: Shiraz (97%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (3%)
- Wine Type
- Red Wine
- Format
- 0,75L
- Vintage
- 2019
- Producer
- Penfolds
- Country
- Australia
- Region
- Barossa Valley
- The highest scoring
- Jancis Robinson 18 to 19.5
Wine Spectator 97 to 99 Points - Robert Parker
- RP95+
- Wine Spectator
- 98
- James Suckling
- 96
- Jancis Robinson
- 19
The 2019 Grange is 97% Shiraz and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon. It's the pinnacle of the Penfolds release (although if you ask me, the Chardonnays are my favorite part) and a wine that takes some understanding prior to scoring. The key to Grange is the old wines; it is a style of wine heavily fortified with oak (100% new, AP Johns American oak), tannin, fruit (multi-regional) and everything else. In the mouth it can be an almost impossible constellation of flavor and texture to wrap the mind around. But in time, yes, in time, this wine shows its capacity for grace and majesty. Ten years is too young to open a bottle. 20 years is about right. 30 and beyond, not a problem. It is a cellaring proposition of the highest order, but in youth it can feel impenetrable. So, this wine in front of me now has toasted coconut, dusted licorice, roasted meat, violets, burnt toffee, pastrami, coffee grounds, crushed ants/formic, roasted pecans ... all of these dark and broody (and chunky) things. 2019 was a hot year and one marred by low yields due to some inclement weather during flowering. This has meant that, as a whole, the wines have felt big, dark and compressed. This is no exception. It's a product of the year and the state from whence it has come and in the mold and style of Grange, typical. It will be even better. For now, ne touche pas. 14.5% alcohol sealed under natural cork.
Dark, dank and immaculate. The oak handling and tannic precision boast ample class. Beneath lurks a latent, molten beauty that will unravel eventually. I like this Grange. I feel that the decadent style, molten and fleshy, is well suited to the drought vintage and its thick grape skin tannic scour. Mercifully, the tannins are pliant and despite it all, plenty juicy. Firework aromas of raspberry liqueur, camphor and gunpowder, with a smear of black olive, licorella and hung meat wafting across the long finish. Best from 2030.
Very dark purple. Heady and concentrated but too young to be very expressive. Massive! So concentrated it’s almost bursting at the seams of its attempt at a corset. There’s a certain framework that’s desperately trying to contain that exuberant fruit. It’s a marvel that they manage to make the selection but this is pretty impressive and exciting.
This is an epic wine that doesn’t quit, opening up with ripe, fleshy flavors of black cherry, maraschino cherry and framboise. But the fruit notes are only the beginning, giving way to date-nut bread, salted bittersweet chocolate, marzipan, dried olive, green peppercorn, French-press coffee and cardamom. The tannins are filling in the mouth, but never get in the way of all the complexity, while the finish just goes on and on. Drink now through 2047. 500 cases imported.