The 2005 is not yet rated, here is a review on the 2004...The 2004 Shiraz Reserve, aged in large American oak hogsheads and foudres for 18 months, boasts great intensity, superb richness, and a glorious perfume of camphor, acacia flowers, blueberries, and blackberry liqueur. Unctuously textured, rich, and dense, this brilliant Shiraz should age effortlessly for 12-15 years. This estate’s brilliant owners/winemakers, Drew and Rae Noon, are meticulous about everything, including what happens at the vineyards where they contract for fruit. The results are some of the most precise, full-bodied yet remarkably vibrant wines produced in Australia. Drink 2006 - 2021; Wine Advocate # 167; Oct 2006 Robert Parker 98/100

The bouquet is dark blackberry spice, with hints of spice and red liquorice, the oak is all French which is subtle and gently enhances its layered characters. On the palate the fruit weight is powerful and long with grainy balanced tannin and acidity.

Made in 2 and 4 tonne fermenters and hand plunged during the primary Fermentation and post fermentation this wine was left on skins for 15 days to enhance tannin and maximise flavour and length.

The colour is an indicator to the power and concentration of this wine, which is again 70/30 Clare Valley McLaren Vale.

O’Leary Walker Wines is the culmination of two like minded winemakers that met at Roseworthy College twenty years ago. Established in 2001, David O’Leary and Nick Walker combine a wealth of experience gained during their time as corporate winemakers behind such labels as Krondorf, Hardy’s, Yellowglen and Annie’s Lane.

Matching the best fruit from the best viticultural districts is the thumb print for producing the best varietal wines, and is the philosophy behind O’Leary Walker. Based at Watervale in the Clare Valley, South Australia, O’Leary Walker Wines is a new winery on the scene, rapidly gaining a reputation for producing great regional wines at affordable prices.

Lawson’s Shiraz has always had a particular style. It hangs minty characters out on its sleeve, shows liberal doses of oak, is rich from the attack onwards and champions ‘softness’. I’m not a Lawson’s expert but I don’t think I’ve tasted any vintage that has swayed from this template. True to style, and form. There’s a lot of choc-spearmint here and a good amount of bright, plummy flavour too, though for now the oak wins out. There’s good, fine, far-reaching tannin too and an excellent pitch of acidity, so given another few years in bottle I’d imagine that everything will have matured into balance. A syrupy, almost caricatured wine in need of time. One for big red lovers. Rated : 93 Points Price : $63 Closure : Cork Drink : 2011 - 2019 By Campbell Mattinson; The Wine Front

Gold Medal 2011 - RASQ Wine Show
Gold Medal 2009 - National Wine Show of Australia

The bouquet has Paringa Estate’s distinctive cracked black pepper/spice & plum characters. On the palate spicy blackberry and plum fruit flavours are supported by firm fine grained tannins that will soften with bottle development. A wine that can be enjoyed young with food, but will also reward careful cellaring.

Gold Medal - Sydney Royal Wine Show 2009

Vibrant colour; a heady mixture of elegance and ripe, luscious black fruit; plum, blackberry, pepper and fresh sage engage on the bouquet; medium-bodied with racy acidity and really silky tannin, the not inconsiderable oak is a mere afterthought in the wake of the expansive fruit on offer. Screwcap. 14.5% alc. Rating 96 Drink 2020 $50 Date Tasted Feb 09 James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2010

There are three distinct offers of Penfolds red wines. Single vineyard (Magill Estate Shiraz, Kalimna Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon), single region (Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz, RWT Barossa Shiraz) and multi-regional blends (Grange, Bin 707). The Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz delivers a fourth approach, with Penfolds showing its hand at sub-regional expression. The hamlet of Marananga lies very close to the centre of the Barossa Valley floor - slightly to the north and west, where warm dry conditions and rich red soils provide the backbone to some of the region's best known wines. Standing on its own two feet, the inaugural release of the Marananga Shiraz delivers a contemporary Shiraz alternative, framed by a mix of oaks; French and American, old and new, conceived from the ancient soils of this special place, Marananga.

A debut vintage... awaiting the inheritance of those lucky to be born in 2008!...A contemporary and compelling Barossa Valley Shiraz - mischievously playing in a zone somewhere in between RWT & Bin 28; Penfolds Chief Winemaker - Peter Gago.

Glorious deep purple crimson; Penfolds picked almost all of its best Shiraz before the heatwave, the grapes for this wine no exemption; in standard Penfolds practice, the wine completed its primary fermentation in American and French hogsheads (50% new) and spends 18 months in those barrels before bottling. While luscious blackberry and plum fruit fill every corner of the mouth, the wine is superbly balanced, oak and tannins judged to perfection; Screwcap; 14.5% Alc; Drink to 2050; $65.00; 96 Points – James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion 2010 Edition.

A long and illustrious history, boasts one of the very first Penfold Bin wines. The successful styling commands universal appeal due to the intense definition of fruit, a ripe, fleshy palate structure and great generosity of flavour. Bin 28 enjoys a reputation as an immensely satisfying, early drinking style of Shiraz, yet it is also highly valued by collectors for its ability to mature gracefully and offer potential for appreciation on the secondary market. Bin 28 has twice claimed Red Wine of the Year at the prestigious London International Wine Challenge

Bin 28 Kalimna sits highly within the hierarchy of Penfolds, it has grown to become an Australian classic. First made in 1959, Bin 28 is named after the famous Barossa Valley Kalimna Vineyard acquired by Penfolds in 1945. Today, Bin 28 is a multi region, multi vineyard blend with components from Langhorne Creek, Upper Adelaide, Barossa, McLaren Vale and Limestone Coast. Grapes were picked at optimum maturity to excellent flavour profiles and fine tannin structures, then treated to inoculation and vinification in tanks with wooden header boards. Bin 28 was matured for twelve months in seasoned American oak hogsheads, a minor component in large oak vat formats.

Dark plum red in colour. Assertive chocolate and spice, shrouded in a freshly mixed fruitcake mixture of Irish Christmas cake. From out of an aromatic mist, scents of olive tapenade, creamy mustard seed and almond may be detected. Oak? Not likely. Evenly weighted across the palate, facilitated by mouth coating tannins. A mix of cooked beetroot and liqueur chocolate are intertwined with dark berried fruits. Maturation in older oak has sensitively assimilated all flavour and structural elements, sans intrusion. A fully engaging sensory experience expressing the assertiveness of a distinguished Shiraz wine with fine balance and vivacity, indelibly stamped with the marque of Penfolds

Penfolds Bin 28 is a showcase for warm-climate Australian Shiraz - ripe, robust and generously flavoured. First made in 1959, Bin 28 is named after the famous Barossa Valley Kalimna vineyard purchased by Penfolds in 1945 and from which the wine was originally sourced. Today, Bin 28 is a multi-region, multivineyard blend, with the Barossa Valley always well represented, providing a substantial proportion of the fruit for this vintage.

"The 50th Commercial Release that may rival the 1998 Bin 28...Just like Bin 28s of yore - not for the faint-hearted... fighting above its weight division!...This vintage will provide both immediate allure and long-term satisfaction." Penfolds Chief Winemaker - Peter Gago.

The opaque purple-colored 1992 Grange exhibits an unevolved, grapy nose of sweet toasty oak, ripe prunes, black raspberries, and cassis. Full-bodied, with lavishly-displayed oaky notes, this formidably endowed, large-scaled wine should develop into an impressive example of Grange, although my instincts suggest it will not be quite as good as the 1990, 1986, or 1982. The wine was kept open for three days without any traces of oxidation. Give it 2-4 years of cellaring and consume it over the following 20 years.
 
This winery continues to turn out an insipid selection of white wines, but the reds are all noteworthy, and some are reasonably good values. Wine Advocate #115 (Feb 1998) Robert Parker 93 points  Drink 2000-2022

A cracker of a Grange; full deep red with ruby edges. Perfumed, heady aromas of black and red berries of rare concentration partnered by sweet vanilla/chocolate/coconut oak and scented with cracked pepper. Succulent, sumptuous palate of wonderful concentration, length and persistence, finely and precisely structured with everything imaginable in perfect place and balance. An essay in controlled power. 19.5, drink 2026-2036+ 98 Points; Jeremy Oliver

Shows the 1995 the way. Lots of coffeed oak, arguably in the same vein as the 1995, but with fruit brightens rippling through it, lifting the wine as it does to significant heights. Tannins on this wine have always been perfect, and they still are. Great Grange. Give it another 20 years. 2035; 98 Points; Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front

Medium to full red-purple, still bright after five years, vibrant cherry and plum fruit aromas more than handle the oak on the bouquet; the palate is sumptuous, but not heavy, the cherry and plum flavours tracking the bouquet. The wine has a very long finish, with fine, integrated tannins. Destined to become one of the great Granges. Rating 97 Points; Drink 2026 James Halliday

Deep crimson. Highly defined meaty/gamey/plum/prune/liquorice aromas and coffee/chocolate nuances. The palate is decadently rich with lashings of sweet fruit, deep set choco-plum/prune/mocha/liquorice flavours, supple, ripe but pronounced tannins plenty of underlying oak, building up to a firm finish (99 points). Certainly it is in the same class as the 1990 and 1991 with a cellar life of decades. Rating 99 Points; Andrew Caillard, MW
 
Archetypal young Grange with concentration, balance and powerful berry fruit flavours, with blueberry at the core. Tight and structured, although the thick, ripe tannins are shrouded beneath a veil of opulent fruit. Excellent length and persistence of flavour and masterful handling of oak. A very fine Grange that will confidently sit alongside the great 1990.  Best Drinking: 2010 - 2030 Alc/Vol: 14.0%. Winery notes.

A cracker of a Grange; full deep red with ruby edges. Perfumed, heady aromas of black and red berries of rare concentration partnered by sweet vanilla/chocolate/coconut oak and scented with cracked pepper. Succulent, sumptuous palate of wonderful concentration, length and persistence, finely and precisely structured with everything imaginable in perfect place and balance. An essay in controlled power. 19.5, drink 2026-2036+ 98 Points; Jeremy Oliver

Shows the 1995 the way. Lots of coffeed oak, arguably in the same vein as the 1995, but with fruit brightens rippling through it, lifting the wine as it does to significant heights. Tannins on this wine have always been perfect, and they still are. Great Grange. Give it another 20 years. 2035; 98 Points; Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front

Medium to full red-purple, still bright after five years, vibrant cherry and plum fruit aromas more than handle the oak on the bouquet; the palate is sumptuous, but not heavy, the cherry and plum flavours tracking the bouquet. The wine has a very long finish, with fine, integrated tannins. Destined to become one of the great Granges. Rating 97 Points; Drink 2026 James Halliday

Deep crimson. Highly defined meaty/gamey/plum/prune/liquorice aromas and coffee/chocolate nuances. The palate is decadently rich with lashings of sweet fruit, deep set choco-plum/prune/mocha/liquorice flavours, supple, ripe but pronounced tannins plenty of underlying oak, building up to a firm finish (99 points). Certainly it is in the same class as the 1990 and 1991 with a cellar life of decades. Rating 99 Points; Andrew Caillard, MW
 
Archetypal young Grange with concentration, balance and powerful berry fruit flavours, with blueberry at the core. Tight and structured, although the thick, ripe tannins are shrouded beneath a veil of opulent fruit. Excellent length and persistence of flavour and masterful handling of oak. A very fine Grange that will confidently sit alongside the great 1990.  Best Drinking: 2010 - 2030 Alc/Vol: 14.0%. Winery notes.

The 1997 Grange (a blend of 96% Shiraz and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon) looks to be a classic Grange, although slightly softer and more forward than the backward 1996. The saturated purple-colored 1997 offers a gorgeously sweet nose of blackberry liqueur, cherries, camphor, chocolate, plums, and mocha. The wine is opulently-textured, extremely soft, layered, and seductive, with Grange's tell-tale personality well-displayed, but in a seamless, seductive style. This is a superb Grange that can hold its own against the more heralded 1996. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2022. Wine Advocate #143 (Oct 2002) Robert Parker 94 points  Drink 2005-2022

The 1997 Grange (a blend of 96% Shiraz and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon) looks to be a classic Grange, although slightly softer and more forward than the backward 1996. The saturated purple-colored 1997 offers a gorgeously sweet nose of blackberry liqueur, cherries, camphor, chocolate, plums, and mocha. The wine is opulently-textured, extremely soft, layered, and seductive, with Grange's tell-tale personality well-displayed, but in a seamless, seductive style. This is a superb Grange that can hold its own against the more heralded 1996. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2022. Wine Advocate #143 (Oct 2002) Robert Parker 94 points  Drink 2005-2022

This starred in the October 2007 Rewards of Patience tasting, just as it did when first released. A wonderful bouquet of a multitude of dark fruit aromas, the palate with impeccable texture and balance, a seamless array of blackberry, spice and licorice flavours, oak perfectly pitched. Destined to become of the great Granges. $500, C, 14.5%. From: South Australia; Drink: Now-2042; 97 points & Halliday’s Top 100 – The Weekend Australian November 10-11, 2007
 
As hoped and expected; beautiful colour; a wonderful bouquet, with black fruits or various kinds the engine, oak in tow. Impeccable texture and balance in the mouth; again, a wonderful array of seamless blackberry, licorice and high-quality oak; destined to become recognised as one of the great Granges. Cork 14.5% alc. Rating 97. To 2050 - James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2008
 
Deep, closed and brooding, with perfectly ripened aromas of dark berries, plums and typical smoky cedar/vanilla/dark chocolate Penfolds oak that become more fragrant with aeration, revealing scents of violets, cloves and cinnamon. Smooth, unctuous and exceptionally elegant for Grange, its voluptuous palate of black cherries, plums, black olives and smoky dark oak finishes with exceptional length of vibrant fruit over suggestions of minerals and vanilla. The longer it’s opened, the silkier and more ethereal it becomes, as the quality of its fine-grained tannin becomes apparent. A classic reflection of a great cool vintage. (South Australia, $500 retail, approx., 19.4/97, drink 2022-2032+) Jeremy Oliver
 
Penfolds Bin 95 Grange 2002 ($500): A precise, definitive, lattice-structured wine of great power and poise. This vintage is a great example of what Grange is, and of how new American oak and rich South Australian shiraz can seamlessly combine to form a sophisticated whole. This is not an over-powered wine, but it is beautifully powered, with a great push of meat, plums, smoke, vanillin, cassis and bright, rich blackberries pouring through your mouth. Its wealth of fine-boned tannins is, though, what sets this wine apart, and gives it the best long-term cellaring potential since the 1996 vintage Grange release. This should be a 25+ year wine. It's a classic example of precision wine engineering. (And indeed, for my personal taste, it is the best Grange since the 1996). Drink: 2015-2035+ 96 points. Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front

A very ripe, assertive, profoundly structured and traditional warm year Grange whose dark, brooding and brambly fruit and lavish oak are supported by drying, firm and chalky tannin. It’s still a bruising young wine, with a surprisingly floral and heady, jasmine-like bouquet and dense layers of blackberries, blueberries, cassis and dark plums backed by smoky, meaty, dark chocolate and cedary influences. As it opens further, nuances of treacle, aniseed and graphite slowly emerge. Firm and dense, its palate simply drips with concentrated flavour, finishing with the length and balance expected of this label. (Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek, Magill Estate, Coonawarra, 18.9/96, drink 2023-2033+) Jeremy Oliver

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. Rated : 94+ Points; Alcohol : 14.5%; Price : $550; Closure : Cork; Drink : 2016 - 2033; Gary Walsh; Winorama

2005 may not be the most profound Grange, nor will it be the most long-lived, but, oh my goodness, is there some complexity tucked into its crevasses! It is not the blockbuster of 2002 and doesn’t have the stamina and hidden secrets of 2004 (which took hours to reveal itself) but there is no question that this is a great vintage for Grange, as exuberant and expressive as any young Grange I have seen. In no way precocious or simplistic, this is a wine with a plethora of layers. The bouquet is particularly lifted and spicy this year, with violets and mixed spice hovering over fruit mince and dark chocolate oak. In time, coal, black olive and Satsuma plum aromas unravel. The palate is powerful, even by Grange dimensions, with lifted violets and exotic spice ushering in a cavalcade of stewed plum, rhubarb and plum pudding fruit in the wake of a wave of signature Grange tannins. A Grange that is both seductive and brooding, 2005 is the vintage to drink while you await your 2002s and 2004s to come back down to earth. 97 Points; Tyson Stelzer, April 2010

For reasons of protocol I was not able to do an up-to-date tasting for the 2011 Wine Companion, relying instead on the September 2007 Rewards of Patience tasting. In fact, not too much has changed. The ‘05 is a more classic and compact wine than the ‘04. The fruit line of the ‘05 is glossy and smooth, the tannins and acidity acting as a break, and giving tightness. It has a long future ahead. 96 points; drink to 2045; 14.5% alc/vol; cork; $650; James Halliday Wine Companion

Penfolds Grange 2005 - it doesn’t come with the hype of the 2004, but it is no slouch. In fact it’s beautiful. Showy vanillin, coffeed, toasty oak is the first impression – as you’d expect of a Grange - though it’s neither syrupy nor malty. The big surprise with this release though is that it doesn’t have the bigness of tannin that some (or most) Grange releases boast. Is this a bad thing? In this case, no - because the balance of this 2005 is brilliant. So too is the dark fruit power motoring through the finish. Grange is renowned for its ‘formula’, but this vintage changes the tune according to the wants of the season - less muscle, more finesse. A vote for the craft of the winemakers involved. It’s persistent and seductive and awash with flavours of sweet, dense, meaty, smoky, leathery blackberry and blackcurrant. It does the Grange name proud. Rated : 95 Points Alcohol : 14.4% Closure : Cork Drink : 2017 - 2035 By Campbell Mattinson; The Wine Front