Grange is arguably Australia’s most celebrated wine and is officially listed as a Heritage Icon of South Australia. Grange boasts an unbroken line of vintages from the experimental 1951 and clearly demonstrates the synergy between Shiraz and the soils and climates of South Australia. Grange utilises fully-ripe, intensely-flavoured and textured Shiraz grapes. The result is a unique Australian style that is now recognised as one of the most consistent of the world’s great wines. The Grange style is the original and most powerful expression of Penfolds multi-vineyard, multi-district, blending philosophy.

The 2010 Grange is a 4% Cabernet Sauvignon and 96% Shiraz blend made from Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale and Magill Estate fruit that was aged 17 months in 100% new American oak hogsheads. Very deep purple-black in color, this is classic Grange - amongst the finest produced - replete with fresh, vibrant and youthful black fruit notes showing some blueberry aromas and accents of camphor, anise and the slightest floral hint plus a whiff of oak in the background to lend a cedar-laced lift to this textbook Shiraz nose. Medium to full-bodied in the mouth, it is very taut and finely constructed showing typically firm, grainy, uniform tannins, great concentration and wonderful persistence on the finish. If I have any very slight complaint of this near perfect wine it is that it seems a little too clinical and appears to speak less of the land and the heart of South Australia and more of the very skilled winemaking than did the Grange from the magical 2008 vintage. Tasted: Oct 14; Drink: 2022-2040; Rating: 99 Points; Lisa Perrotti-Brown; Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate

Very deep, dark red-purple colour, youthful and bright looking. The bouquet is fresh and vibrant with especially good fruit-oak balance and the oak is not dominant on the bouquet - as it has been so often in the past. Fruitcake, roasted meats, charcuterie and black fruit aromas; hints of fresh tobacco as well. It's full-bodied and dense, concentrated and yet seamless and harmonious. The tannins are fleshy and smooth and well-integrated into the whole. An outstanding Grange, more approachable and in better balance than Grange usually is at release time (and this one is out six months early). 4% cabernet sauvignon - which doesn't show. Date Tasted: Sept 2014; Rating: 98 Points; Huon Hooke

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