Penfold's Grange

[brappy]

So, I was driving to work this morning and the only thing on my mind was work today, tomorrow and then off to the finger Lakes. I knew the tasting today was with Penfold's. Peter Gago and a wine educator, Matt came in with the wine. I found myself in a once in a lifetime situation. They brought a vertical of Grange in magnums. The verticle started with '79 and ended with '01.

I was working so I didn't have the time to take notes. However, none of the wines were past thier prime. All of the wines showed off thier youthful fruit. I was actually surprised Peter Gago double decanted everything as I would have been worried about the older vintages. That worry was quickly laid to rest. I've never had such a complete verticle, but tasting the wine virtually age (or the opposite) was a valuable and fun excersize.

OK, more later, Hattie's telling me dinner is ready...............

mark

[This message has been edited by brappy (edited 06-19-2006).]

[TheEngineer]

Wow...nice verticle. I've never had Grange and keep hoping that someone will open a bottle for me so that I can see what all the fuss is about.

[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

[wondersofwine]

Thanks for the notes from another who has never tasted Penfold's Grange.