The Grand Tasting Of Penfolds Grange Through Two Decades: Penfolds Grange 1991, 2001, 2015, 2018, 2021
2026 marks the 75th anniversary of the Penfolds Grange, dating from the first 1951 experimental vintage by Max Schubert - the company's first-ever Chief Winemaker. It's fair to say this isn't merely a milestone for Penfolds as a winemaker, but a milestone for Australian wine history writ large. The Grange series not only placed Penfolds in the limelight of premium wine producers, but also put Australia on the wine map - in a time when New World wines were still seen as somewhat inferior or not on par with the Old World juggernauts. It is something of a pioneering wine that it came up at a time when the Australian wine industry most needed an icon, before ushering in newfound appreciation of serious red and white Australian wines.
The Penfolds Grange today indubitably stands as Australia's best known prestige wine, capturing the essence of Australia's greatest Shiraz with its dense, concentrated character, structure and similarly long ageing potential.
Max Schubert himself first joined Penfolds as a humble messenger boy in 1931 before rising up its ranks over the course of 2 decades. Around the 1950s and 60s, Schubert - now a winemaker for Penfolds - became captivated by the vision that Australian reds could one day be made in a way that could be aged gracefully for decades as iconic French wines of Bordeaux and northern Rhône. This was a concept still foreign to early Australian winemaking which favoured claret-style wines for immediate drinking.
Schubert returned to Adelaide determined to create "something different and lasting": a full-bodied Australian red with the balance and longevity of a great Bordeaux, capable of capable of staying "alive" for a minimum of 20 years.
Max Schubert with an early label of the Grange - then "Grange Hermitage" (Source: Penfolds)
The full story can be read in our deep dive into Penfolds' history. It suffices to say that Schubert's proposed approach was incredibly radical for its time not only within Australian winemaking. Many of Europe’s top wines are made to be site-specific, with grapes sourced from only one region or one parcel - for example, a wine with the Champagne appellation could only use grapes grown and picked from Champagne, with many prestigious cuvées sourced from within a specific lieu-dit (named place). Yet, in his pursuit to emulate wines made for longevity, Max did not follow this Old World principle. Forgoing the terroir-only perspective on wines, he blended grapes across Australian vineyards, ensuring that the best grapes with the right flavour profiles were chosen. He first sourced Shiraz from two distinctive vineyards – the Grange vineyard at Magill Estate and the privately-owned Honeypot Vineyard at Morphett Vale, planted in 1920 by Samuel Wynn of Wynn's Coonawarra Estate – believing that combining fruit from both sites would produce a superior, more complete wine than either alone.
The blend is made with predominantly Shiraz with a small Cabernet Sauvignon addition in many years, before undergoing controlled, extended fermentation for maximum extraction within open fermenters at Magill Estate. The wine is then transferred to a barrel before fermentation completes - a "partial barrel fermentation" – a Schubert-era innovation unique in Australia at the time. It undergoes about 18 to 20 months of oak maturation in new American oak hogsheads that are used only once. Then there is extended bottle aging before release so that they only hit the market with at least four years of bottle age.
Peter Gago (Penfolds' current Chief Winemaker) collaborated with Caroline Frey of Domaine de La Chapelle to create the Grange La Chapelle Syrah-Shiraz Cross-Continent Blend (Source: Penfolds)
In our interview with Penfolds' Senior Winemaker Steph Dutton, she described the Penfolds Grange as "best wine that we can craft within vintage constraints." According to Dutton, its fruit is sourced from a "tiny 0.1–0.2% that works out to be of a certain style, but absolutely the best quality."
Penfolds has spent this year marking the milestone with global celebrations – the centerpiece being a series of vertical-tasting dinners staged around the world. We had the fine opportunity to be there in Singapore.
Here're our notes on a flight of Penfolds Grange 1991, 2001, 2015, 2018 and 2021.
Wine Review: Penfolds Grange 1991
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Garnet with brick-brown rim.
Aroma: Powerful and expressive, opens with high-toned heavy purple potpourri florals with lilacs, shot through with a cooling streak of mint and dried rosemary. A concentrated core of dark cherries and pomegranate, blackberry and red fruits, wound around liquorice, cracked black pepper and spice. Deeper down we find a savoury, meaty herbaceousness, backed by antique wood, tobacco ribbons, dark chocolate and toasted matcha powder, all knit into a very nicely integrated forest floor earthiness.
Taste: Full-bodied, it opens on black fruits and concentrated dark cherries edged with tart red fruits and a lift of fresh plums, before revealing soft malolactic acidity and savouriness of wild mushrooms and truffle laced with mint, liquorice and cocoa powder. It turns savoury and herbaceous, spiced and fruity (rather than sweet), with bright acidity definition while the tannins have resolved into something very supple, textural and fine.
Finish: Closes on soft red fruits, vanilla and cedar, a lightly powdery sandalwood dusting and a slightly granite note, lingering anise and toasted walnuts.
My Thoughts
A markedly spiced, savoury Grange, and a very graceful one. There's a decent power here that announces immediately, but it arrives moderated, reined in by that cooling seam of mint and herbs and by tannins that have now resolved entirely. I should add that the 1991 is a much cooler, more measured vintage though it’s seen well over three decades in bottle. So rather than the sheer muscularity, this leans towards precision and a cool, earthy restraint, its fruit turned savoury and its structure fully settled. It drinks very beautifully now: complete, integrated and in a generous mature phase, with a very light touch of spice and herbal lift that belies its fruit concentration.
Wine Review: Penfolds Grange 2001
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Garnet.
Aroma: Heavier and more overtly floral here, it arrives with sweet purple florals and a rush of mint all at once, over a concentrated core of dark cherries, pomegranate and blackberry. The tertiary register runs deeper: earthy notes, whole-bunch stemmy tones and a touch of cigar box lend a rustic edge, joined by bresaola and light leather, a savoury-sweet lift of cola, sarsaparilla and sandalwood, and a touch of eucalyptus. Cracked black pepper and spice thread throughout.
Taste: Front and centre fruits, it is full-bodied and immediate, purple dark fruits and plums coming racy and tart over a savoury, meaty undertone, laced with mint, liquorice and sarsaparilla, with a green earthy thread of blueberry bush. Sour-plum note runs through it all, as does the mint, all over firm, chalky tannins.
Finish: Mint and sour plum lead into dark savoury herbs, dark chocolate and baking spices, with lingering pepper. The tannins still lend structure here, though they are nearly completely resolved.
My Thoughts
Where the 1991 was graceful and resolved, the 2001 is distinctly more intense and notably lively, a bolder and more old-school cut of Grange. The 2001 comes from a warm, powerful South Australian vintage so it seems to wear its warmth and ripeness openly: the florals are sweeter and heavier, the tertiary notes push further forward, and a rustic streak of whole-bunch stem, bresaola and cola gives it a wilder personality and complexity. It is the more muscular of the two so far, yet its tannins are nearly resolved now, so it still drinks well today even as it keeps a little in reserve. So lively and full of energy.
Wine Review: Penfolds Grange 2015
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Garnet
Aroma: A little more reticent, it opens on dark fruits and dark cherries, with dark florals, lychee and bright roses lifting above and trailing potpourri. A touch of herbs and mint follows, over a meaty, savoury-herb base of black olives and sautéed mushrooms, a curious note of red apples, and cassis filling in the fruit. Cedar, dark chocolate and sweet spices of vanilla frame it, with aged smoked lapsang souchong and aniseed threading beneath.
Taste: Leaner and more structural here, it turns less fruity, the dark fruits and red apples drawn back behind silky, powdery tannins. Mint threads through, with a note of new leather, and a somewhat racy line of tart cherry lends lift - lively without ever turning too acidic.
Finish: Dry and slightly chalky, it leaves powdery cedar oak, a touch of pepper and smooth herbal notes, holding long with fine tannins.
My Thoughts
After the resolved 1991 and the louder 2001, the 2015 pulls inward slightly. It seems the leanest and most structural of the three so far, less overtly fruity - the dark fruit held back behind a tighter, finer tannic frame. There is clear quality in the bones here, in the silky, powdery tannins and the savoury, floral lift of lychee and rose, but give it time and the fruit and florals should really unfurl.
Wine Review: Penfolds Grange 2018
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Deep garnet-purple.
Aroma: Layered and complex, it moves from dark cherries, dark fruits and stewed plums into a savoury, meaty earthiness and light tilled soil, with lavender and lilacs lifting above and a touch of dried heather and sandalwood beneath. Cigar box, espresso and a return of dark cherry, blackberry and cassis, and then cracked black pepper threads through. A fragrant herb layer of rosemary, bay leaf and mint throughout.
Taste: Polished and elegant, it is heavy-bodied yet silky and mouth-coating, its considerable weight carried on incredibly fine, chewy tannins. Dark cherries lead, with lighter appley notes and a seam of dark chocolate and espresso, while tobacco ribbons and smoked lapsang souchong deepen the savoury base and a lively acidity that keeps it fresh and lifted.
Finish: Clean and persistent carrying light spices and continued dark fruits, deepening into cacao and sweet spice with light savoury notes, the fine tannins extending.
My Thoughts
This is a highly impressive recent vintage that is already enjoyable today. It really brings it all together. Where the 2015 was a little more tightly wound 2018 marries real power to genuine polish: heavy-bodied and complex, yet elegant and clean, its considerable structure carried on incredibly fine, chewy tannins. The nose is complete – herbaceous and layered, meaty and earthy, with those evocative florals of lavender and lilac lifting above dark cherry and cigar box. There is a sweeter oak framing here but it doesnt smother its fruit. Highly approachable already, it still has the balance and structure to reward long cellaring. My favourite of the entire lineup.
Wine Review: Penfolds Grange 2021
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Deep garnet-purple.
Aroma: Elegant and clean, leading with bright red florals, violets and a lift of orange rind, cut by a slightly spiced spearmint tone. Beneath lies a precise fruit core of stone fruit, dark plums and bruised apples, deepened by blackberry, cassis, blueberry and mulberry, with liquorice and aniseed winding through. A meaty, savoury base follows - bresaola, sweet tobacco, black truffle and a mineral note of stone dust - the fruits are still primary and youthful but already remarkably layered.
Taste: Substantial, structural, polished, with a velvety, thick texture that stays dry and firm. Dark chocolate and smoked meats - think aged parma ham - fill the middle, with spices showing through over bright acidity, firm tannins and a young, gripping frame.
Finish: Grippier, the tannins tighten in a continued grip over dried plums and apples, with malolactic notes, lactones and a savoury note of soy sauce. A touch of leather, cocoa, coffee and slate rock carry through.
My Thoughts
The 2021 is still primary and coiled, though it is substantial and velvety in body, already hinting at real savoury complexity in those malolactic, soy-like umami notes, with far more still to come. There is obvious high definition fruit quality and composure beneath the youth, and the balance of fruit, acidity and fine, grippy tannin points to a wine with a very harmonious future lying ahead. It will open up nicely, though give it some years.
@CharsiuCharlie
