Penfolds Grange Shiraz 2003
Grange eh? A wine that requires no introduction.
As with all Grange the aromatics are layered and complex with this vintage offering a whole raft of interesting things to smell. It’s showing a touch of char, brown spices, blackberry, coconut, liquorice, aniseed, soy sauce, camphor and fruit cake in and amongst other things. Seek and ye shall find but the overall impression over three days tasting is of a rich darkly fruited wine backed with liberal high class oak that smells terrific. On the palate full bodied and bulging with powerful dark tarry fruit, mince pie, dark chocolate, dry spices, aniseed and plenty of perfumed cedary oak. It maintains a good level of freshness and has layers of open knit very firm chalky tannins that make their presence felt from start to long finish. The tannins receded and softened over three days but still felt a little raw and blocky at the end. Young wine, no doubt, but I’d suggest it will always be a more rustic example of Grange, although a good one. A remarkable wine considering the vintage too. Drink : 2016 - 2033 94+ Points Gary Walsh, Winorama
Grange is Australia's most famous wine and is officially listed as a Heritage Icon of South Australia. The most powerful expression of Penfolds long and prolific traditions, Grange boasts an unbroken line of vintages from the experimental 1951, and clearly demonstrates the synergy between Shiraz with the soils and climates of South Australia. Grange displays fully-ripe, intensely-flavoured and textured Shiraz in combination with splendid oak. A unique Australian style, recognised as one of the most consistent of the world's greate wines.
Max Schubert's experimental work in the 1950s came to the conclusion that Grange should be based around an assemblage of vineyards. One of it's great strengths that it does not rely on the performance of a single site. The 2003 vintage was initially warm and dry, becoming milder later in the season. These conditions prompted an early start of harvest with the fruit reaching optimum ripeness evenly. The vintage produced Shiraz with dense colour, impressive varietal characters and soft tannins. 97% Shiraz, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from the Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, McLaren Vale, and the Kalimna Estate Vineyard, matured for fifteen months in new American oak hogsheads. Alcohol 14.5%
