Grange Expectations.

My wife and I leapt at the opportunity last year to sample the new release Penfolds Grange (2006) at our local Dan Murphy’s store as part of their Shiraz Expo. As very new wine drinkers, it was fascinating to sample wines in a variety of price ranges and ages to build up our understanding of Shiraz. The Grange itself was phenomenal, and newbies like us could easily see why it was afforded such cult status. Aside from some other fantastic wines (the Penfolds RWT 2008 and the Yalumba Octavius 2006 to name a few), our inexperienced palettes were struggling to differentiate the wines after a while, a disappointment with such quality on display.

In the ensuing months we experimented with regions and styles, blends and straight varietals, trying to hone in on what makes a great shiraz great, what flavours mark a wet or dry vintage, and what to expect as the wines age. All this was with a view to gaining a full appreciation upon the next Grange release.

So, as Saturday rolled around, and the next instalment of the Dan Murphy’s Shiraz Expo was held in Phillip, my wife and I arrived a full 45 minutes early to ensure we didn’t miss out (only the first 100 customers through the door get to taste the Grange). Early reviews indicated that 2007 was not a particularly good year for Grange, and the recent price war between Coles, Woolworths and Costco was most likely exacerbated by this. We were joined by my boss and her husband, and looking through the list of available wines, we were all fairly anxious to sample the offerings. (On a personal note, I was a bit disappointed by the lack of Hunter Valley wines, only one of forty-eight, a Mount Pleasant Rosehill Shiraz 2009).

While waiting for our tickets to be allocated, we ran into a former colleague and a friend of his, and formed a tasting group. This proved to be a wonderful experience, with 6 keen wine drinkers bouncing opinions and ideas off each other, and sharing stories of great past wine experiences. We took each other’s recommendations and tasted everything together, each time giving our thoughts on the wine, its flaws, its highlights, and any points of interest we could think of.

After about 45 minutes of tasting, the Dan Murphy’s crew finally wheeled out the promised allocations of Grange. We quickly made our way to the allotted table and took our glasses. As this was only my second experience with Grange (my bottle of 1986 still untouched at home), I was keen to savour the moment, and derive as much as I could from the small sample I had.

The colour was vibrant and crimson, not as deep and dark as I had expected, the clarity of the wine only broken by the sediment forming in the glass. The wine completely coated the glass, taking an age to slide back into the bowl. The bouquet was immediately intoxicating, firstly a faint hint of fruitcake, an almost fortified smell that eased back to a rich mixture of black and blue fruit. I have read a few reviews that suggest liquorice and cigar box, and while they were noticeable, they were in no way dominant to me. Finally to taste.

It is hard to tell if the flavours that formed were entirely from the wine, or were partly from the weight of expectation: nevertheless the concentration and vibrancy in this glass was an absolute treat. A wine built to live up to 50+ years in a good vintage needs its fair share of tannins, and this wine had them in spades. What impressed, however, was how the fruit handled the weight of these tannins. While tasting, I was trying to recall words I had heard others use to describe this vintage: blackberry – yes, sweet fruits – yes, spice – yes, mocha – yes, creamy oak – YES. Checking off this list was like decoding a cipher. Each sip would completely coat the inside of the mouth, and the flavour would hold its line for an eternity. It appears to me at this stage that a lot of the ratings given to the Grange this year (I’ve seen 91’s through to 96’s) appear to be more relative to previous vintages, rather than comparing it to a scale consistent with the lexicon of Australian wine. That is, the ratings appear to have suffered because of past greatness, not of some fault in this wine.

The experience is over all too quickly, and it is hard to then jump back into tasting the rest, however there were some cracking wines on display. Some real highlights for me (and my clear favourites on the day) are included below:

Penfolds RWT Shiraz 2009 – Often considered to be fairly close to Grange in quality at a quarter of the price.

Elderton Command Shiraz 2003 – One of two from 2003 available, displaying well integrated aged characteristics

Orlando Lawson’s Pathaway Shiraz 2003 – The 2002 was also promised, but was not available. The 2003 was a real treat.

Jim Barry The McRae Wood Shiraz 2006 – Value pick of the day at less than $50 a bottle.

Saltram No. 1 Shiraz 2006 – Smooth and highly concentrated, a wine to convert anyone to shiraz.

M. Chapoutier Crozes-Hermitage Petite Ruche 2008 – Much lighter than the other Chapoutier bottles available. Another picked for value at a shade under $25 a bottle.

Yalumba The Octavius 2006 Shiraz – Again a solid performer.

The full list of wines available is included here.

After finally walking out at around 3:45pm, a few bottles under our arms, we had to linger around the Woden Shops for an hour or so to make sure we were ok to drive home.