Penfolds Grange 2014

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 utilizing fully-ripe, intensely-flavored and structured Shiraz grapes, the result is a unique Australian style that is now recognized 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.

Deep plush garnet color throughout – from core to rim. Umami expressed primarily via wafts of shiitake mushroom stock, hoisin and XO sauce … enhancing scents of dry-aged beef and game meats. Olive-leaf, cardamom, sage and thyme … “a stroll through a South Australian olive grove” … saltbush, acacia, dried and dusty bracken. Fresh and familial lifted formic and barrel-ferment nuances. Quite simply, an unmistakable youthful ‘Grange’ nose. Awakened primary fruits and stylish oak interlocked and indistinguishable. As expected.

On the palate, the wine is savory, not fruity. Tastes/flavors remind of slow-cooked beef ragout, chicken liver game terrine. Red liquorice also apparent. Integrated oak – spicy, almost ‘non-American’ oak … but it is. As it always is. A core of 100% new Quercus alba. Poised yet powerful. A balanced, tightly-knit and woven structural ‘tapestry’. Not to be constrained by dimension or frame. Tannins with attitude! Nonetheless respectful. Type? Slatey tannins … alluvial, silty (certainly not muddy!). Long and lingering – tactile impressions indistinguishably and slowly fuse/merge into an aftertaste memory. Until the next sip! A Grange to create new friends – this 2014 offering a subtly different structural mosaic; different tone and timbre.

Blend: 98% Shiraz and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon

100 Points - Decanter     A perfect wine: extraordinary chypre and warm earth notes and the powerful fruit follows. Phenomenal Shiraz with 2% Cabernet Sauvignon.

98 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate     Rich, concentrated and intense, the 2014 Grange delivers exactly what we've come to expect from this Penfolds icon wine. It's full-bodied, velvety in feel and loaded with plummy fruit, framed in vanilla and cedar. Dense, powerful and tannic, it should prove to be long lived, even by Grange standards. Gago doesn't rate the vintage overall that highly, but he says the selection this year for Grange was a bit more stringent and that production levels were just average. There are still over 1,000 cases for the United States.

98 Points - Wine Spectator     At first glance, this is a purely indulgent wine, with gobs of creamy, milk chocolate–laden maraschino cherry, raspberry framboise and Earl Grey tea aromas. Then wave after wave of elements start filling in, with toasted cumin, peppermint oil, Kalamata olive and white pepper notes, combining into an almost overwhelming amount of details. Becomes indulgent again on the long, lush finish. Drink now through 2035.