1993 Penfolds Grange Shiraz

I pulled this for my wine dinner group`s weekly outing featuring wines from Australia. It clearly was the WOTN:

1993 PENFOLDS GRANGE SHIRAZ SOUTH AUSTRALIA- 86% Shiraz, 14% Cabernet Sauvignon- an unusual high amount; decanted 2 hours ahead; it’s inky dark purple color was suggestive of something pretty serious to come and it was so true; aromas of pepper, tar and cedar came out first and then blueberry and blackberry fruit showed up with all continuing all the way to the back end; in time, additional nuances of nutmeg accented red and black cherry also joined the fun; it was full bodied with layered complexity and had an amazing super smooth mouthfeel; it’s been many years since I’ve had this vintage and as best I can recall, this bottle was not all that much advanced over the previous one; if it’s not at its apogee now, a best guess is it`s got another 10 years or more to get there; a truly amazing wine; Max Schubert would be proud.

Cheers,
Blake
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I had the one bottle of Grange I’ve ever owned (the 1999), and probably - thanks to the way prices have gone - will ever own, around New Year.

It was great. Started out more big, oaky and new worldy, but evolved over the evening into a more complex and balanced (but still big) wine.

It’s not an experience that would tempt me to pay today’s prices for Grange, but it least it was very good.

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Well done Blake.

Grange is true Vin de Guarde. It does need 20-30 years to really come into its own.

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Oddly enough, I tasted this wine about 2 weeks ago. It was my first go round with Grange and my experience echoes Chris’s above:

“… pristine bottle, purchased at retail about 5 years prior. Cork, capsule and fill were all perfect. Decanted about 45 minutes then into Riedel Somm cabernet glasses.

The dominant note for me was mint. A composite of spearmint notes and fine oak, leading to a palate of ripe, warm red and black fruit tones (strawberry, red plum) and raisin. Silty tannins leave a long finish. I came back to the last glass about 6 hours later and while the oak had faded, the fruit left on the midpalate is just massive. For my palate, this has many years to go…

In my tasting matrix, this was somewhere between the Two Hands Bella’s Garden series and Joseph Phelps Insignia. I felt the cab element was really forward, and in fact, there were really no typical Rhone syrah notes (no olive, black pepper, meat/bacon, lavender). So while fairly tasty, and grateful for the experience, I’ll trade for Chave Hermitage any day.”

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I’ve had a few Chris and will be happy to share one with you down the line. The key is to allow them to age which allows for the oak to be integrated as it was with this bottle. As Jeremy states herein, 20-30 years is the minimum plus a good decant.

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Totally agree Jeremy. This bottle was pretty close to giving up all of its treasures that come with age and btw, in an “off” vintage.

We had quite the disparity in the 2 bottles. I’ve gotten the mint note in many of the past wines, but not this one and I was expecting to find it. That’s true for the raisiny notes as well. And on the N. Rhone comparison, I’d go for many of the Guigal La Las and others including the Chave Hermitage first, but I was happy to have this experience. It was truly a magnificent bottle.

I actually had a more than decent pour left after the dinner, took it home, pumped and capped the bottle and placed it in the frig. Waiting for the right time and food pairings to revisit, I went 11 days and it was superlative. Cedar, mocha and dark chocolate laced black cherry, blackberry and even a strong hit of red cherry are prominent. Although decanted but not strained initially, there was a tremendous amount of sediment that fell out. This wine was built for many decades of evolvement and as such, has even more time to go than I originally stated above.

So nice

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My thoughts exactly