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While there will only ever be one Grange, Max’s conviction that the Penfolds approach of sourcing the best fruit from the finest vineyards to marry regional and varietal character to the distinctive Penfolds style, maintaining an unwaveringly high level of quality, lives on in the impressive range of wines.
Winemaker John Duval called the 1981 a big, tannic Grange. A warm to hot, drought-affected summer yielded a powerfully concentrated wine with chocolate raisin fruit, earthy nuances, and pleasant oak. "Fresh white-toast aromas sit above a sea of blackberry jam and leather – this is a very fragrant wine, with a citrussy lift built in and a palate that, while drying out, has complexity to burn: old leather, dried herbs, dried meat, earth, a sweet stemminess and toffee-topped licorice. The finish is tired, but there’s still life left" -Winefront.com.au Grange is both Penfolds and Australia’s most famous wine and is officially listed as a heritage icon of South Australia. An exceptional vintage, 1998 remains a superbly balanced and sumptuous wine, with all the hallmarks of a great, long-living Grange. "The temptation must have been to create a monster, it’s curvaceous but considered. At this early stage complexity, an array of fruit flavours already showing: bright, crushed cranberry, dense blackberry, licorice, raisins, woodspice and a hiss of blueberry, with a spit-and-polish of sweet smoky milk chocolate flavour!" -Campbell Mattinson
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