PENFOLDS GRANGE 2011

Penfolds Grange 2011

COLOUR: Deep and dense dark red

NOSE: Instantly Grange – aromatically heralded from glass to nose via trademark formic and barrel ferment markers. Majestic. Arguably a less-regal unfolding of sarsaparilla, creamy soda/cola-root beer nuances (how can this be?!), synergised with black (not red) liquorice and soy. A 17 month sojourn in 100% new oak is certainly well-hidden – more than a disguise, complete concealment. Archetypal North Barossa fruits extolling every varietal Shiraz variant! Ten minutes later…

PALATE Revealingly, what initially appear to be reticent repressed fruits…soon overtly ascend – blackberry blackcurrant, fig, rhubarb, quince. A follow-up emission of black olive, shaved truffle, vanillin, boot polish, cola, ristretto coffee…with oak all but soaked up. Proper, pronounced and peripheral grippy tannins input texturally, endorsing what is already a formidable structure, with impressive length, depth and weight. Lively, assured…not trying too hard to be something it isn’t.

VARIETIES: 100% Shiraz
REGION: Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Magill Estate – Australia
AGEING: 17 months in 100% new American oak hogsheads
GUARDING POTENTIAL: 20 years ±
SERVE: Serve at 16ºC – 18ºC
CRITICS SCORES: 93/WS, 90/JO

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Grange | Range | Penfolds

The development of Max Schubert’s Grange is a modern tale of imagination, a battle against the odds and redemption. It began with a side trip to Bordeaux in 1949, where a wine ‘capable of staying alive for a minimum of twenty years’, first entered Schubert’s mind. His first experimental vintage in 1951 began a new way of thinking that would eventually lead to a signature wine style, but not before Grange was discredited and Max Schubert forced to make the wine in secrecy.

The original and most powerful expression of Penfolds multi-vineyard, multi-district blending philosophy, Grange is arguably Australia’s most celebrated wine and is officially listed as a Heritage Icon of South Australia. Crafted utilising fully-ripe, intensely-flavoured and structured shiraz grapes, the result is a unique Australian style that is now recognised as one of the most consistent of the world’s great wines. With an unbroken line of vintages from the experimental 1951, Grange clearly demonstrates the synergy between shiraz and the soils and climates of South Australia.