This seminar was moderated by Harvey Steiman and featured ten great vintages of Penfolds Grange from 1978 through 1998. The winery was represented by winemakers John Duval and Peter Gago (who is taking over sole control of the winemaking starting with the 2002 vintage).

Penfolds Grange is always aged 18-24 months in 100% new American oak and released 5 years after the harvest. The grapes are hand-picked from 50-100 year-old vines from the vineyards in Kalimna, although they are starting to shift to Magill now.

I found these wines to have a much different texture than the silky and elegant BdMs that preceded it. The Granges were more polished and rounded, like fine marble. Accordingly, it was harder to find layers of complexity in these wines.

Here is how I ranked the vintages, in order of preference right now (not necessarily for potential in the future). Winemaker comments are in quotations:

1)1998 – 97% Shiraz and 3% Cab. Scheduled for release in May, 2003, this was the first public tasting outside of the winery. A hot Jan/Feb resulted in an early harvest. Very overt blueberry flavor, with fantastic elegance and grace. Outstanding, and my clear favorite. (RP 99 pts)

2)1986 – 87% Shiraz and 13% Cab. Sweet plum and tobacco flavors. Vibrant, balanced and lovely. Drinking great right now. (WS 98, RP 99)

3)1994 – 89% Shiraz and 11% Cab. A dry, cool vintage, this wine was “as inky black as they’ve ever made”. Anise on the nose, with frothy plum and cassis flavors. The cabernet component came from Coonawarra, giving a hint of mint to the party. (WS 96, RP 91)

4)1991 – Didn’t catch the blend, but it had a cabernet nose. Excellent concentration. Medium weight. More nerve/acidity than the ’90, and a little more complexity. (WS 95, RP 95)

5)1996 – 94% Shiraz and 6% Cab. Velvety, with a lot of viscosity. Massive tannin and extract. Brawny. Dark fruits, and some black pepper. Probably better down the road. (WS 96, RP 91)

6)1978 – 90% Shiraz and 10% Cab. Still youthful-looking. A warm and dry vintage resulted in a rich, plush wine with raspberry, fig, and plum flavors. Port-like. (WS 83, RP 93)

7)1983 – 94% Shiraz and 6% Cab. A serious drought year resulted in earliest picking ever. “The growing season had everything but locusts”. Chewy blackberry and framboise flavors. “This wine still has 20+ years in front of it”. (WS 90, RP 92)

8)1981 – 89% Shiraz and 11% Cab. Cinnamon, sage, and bacon on the nose. Lacking some fruit in the middle. “Tannic in its youth, this wine is gaining complexity as it ages”. (WS 93, RP 96)

9)1982 – 94% Shiraz and 6% Cab. Exaggerated raspberry fruit character, shaded by smoky charcoal nuances. Slightly softer tannins than the rest, but fairly tart, too. (WS 96, RP 95)

10)1990 – 95% Shiraz and 5% Cab. Tannic, but not as concentrated as the others. Did not like this one too much. Disappointing for a former WS “Wine of the Year”. Perhaps it’s closed down? (WS 98, RP 92)

One of the best parts about this tasting was that Penfolds gave everyone a beautiful hard-bound book (made especially for this occasion) describing every vintage of Grange ever made. Classy touch.

Cheers,

Otis

This was my order of preference with notes below:
1998
1991
1986
1990
1996
1994
1983
1978
1981
1982

NOTES:

1998 I will prefer the 91 for drinking now but this has the most comcentration, great nose and best potential.

1991 I prefer this to the 90 which I think was unanimous concencus. The best nose of the group, minty, balanced excellent and much more fruit thant the 90.

1986 Very aromatic, but still tight but with a significant amount of fruit behind the tannins.

1990 Tannic but complex, but less fruit present than the 86.

1996 Very aromatic, vanilla, very accesible to drink now with sweet tannins.

1994 Spicy, tannic, needs time

1983 Brown color, minty and sweet.

1978 Brown color, tannic but not much fruit left.

1981 My bottle was probably corked since smelled like wetcardboard and light to taste.

1982 Brown, sweet nose and taste but with some air time it becase so sweet that tasted like port.