Penfold's Grange

[brappy]

Eng, Thanks for the spelling correction.... I've a little buz from the tasting. I've only bought 1 bottle of Grange and now tasted through many vintages, but only through tastings etc. Sometimes there are perks to this business. If it ever comes your way, don't hesitate to enjoy. If you're ever down this way, let me know, I'll get some and we'll quaff........

The other note I wanted to write about is the '00 vintage. I was in an argument about 10 months ago with several people on another board about this vintage. there was speculation 1) they had to make Grange in this off year because they could not declassify this wine for fear of it losing value in subsequent years and 2) they cut down production to be able to raise prices in subsequent years. I questioned Gago on these theories and his argument was sound. As to the second issue, He had only so many grapes that were good enough to make Grange with. As to the first, I've tasted this wine twice now; 1 year apart. This wine is well balanced with sweet juicy fruit. The structure may not allow this to last for 30+ years but the wine is beautiful right now and will be for 10 - 15 years to come. At this moment, one of my favorite Grange wines. So those arguments were without merrit...

Along that note, my favorite vintages of this wine are as follows: '88, '91, '94, '96, '98, '99, '00, '01. If scoring the wines via 100 pt. scoring, I wouldn't give any of these wines under a 92. These wines are the real deal.

mark