Grape
Shiraz
Ratings
*Penfolds – Icon & Luxury Range
Exceptional – by Langton’s Classification Australian Wine
Robert Parker 91
Jeremy Oliver 95
James Halliday 97
Wine Spectator 96
Tasting Notes
Colour : Dark plum with brick red rim.
Nose :Rich and complex with flashes of green tea leaf
and truffle, interlocked with freshly tanned
leather and savoury notes, prune and stewed
blueberry fruits. Enticing classy oak (cedar)
elevated, yet not overstated, by smoky barrel
ferment character.
Palate : What is promised on the nose is delivered on the
palate – an opulent, intense, hedonistic wine.
Layers of massive Shiraz fruit and expertly
crafted oak manifest themselves into a seemingly
endless variety of flavours – deep plum, liquorice,
cedar, chocolate.
-by Official Website
This is the first vintage where Grange went to a bottle with
laser-etched identification numbers to preclude the possibility of
fraudulent bottles. The wine, a blend of 89% Shiraz and 11% Cabernet
Sauvignon, shows some toasty oak mixed with notes of root vegetables,
damp earth, blackberry liqueur, prune, and licorice. The wine is dense,
full-bodied, not terribly complex in the mouth, but layered and rich. I
would not be surprised to see the rating on this wine improve as this
youthful Grange continues to evolve. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2020.
-by Robert Parker
Balanced, stylish long-term Grange of poise and elegance. Deep red, with
piercingly intense aromas of blackberries and raspberries, backed up by
cedar/chocolate oak. Long, smooth and smoky palate now developing some
gamey complexity over dusty, herbal notes and framed by firm, but supple
tannins. Drink 2014-2024+.
-by Jeremy Oliver
Dense red-purple; the typically rich and powerful bouquet has layers of
dark berry fruit and integrated and balanced oak. What makes it unusual
is the distinct hint of chocolate, which appears again on the silkily
powerful palate. Here there is an array of all of the fruit flavours one
could possibly expect, but once again that touch of dark Swiss
chocolate adding an intriguing note. The oak balance and integration is
better than any five-year-old Grange I can remember, the tannins
perfectly balanced into the bargain.
-by James Halliday
A magnificent edifice of a wine, elegant and refined in structure but
dripping with flavor–a virtual cascade of plum, black cherry,
blackberry, anise, pepper and exotic spices that lingers on the finish;
this just doesn’t quit.
-by Wine Spectator