Two bottles of Penfolds Grange
1996 vintage
Barossa Valley, South Australia/Australia
Original filling quantity: 0.75 l
Fill level: into neck
Robert Parker (2002): 93/100
Wine Spectator (2008): 95/100
Falstaff (2012): 93/100

This lot comprises two bottles of 1996 vintage Penfolds Grange. This red wine is made mostly from Shiraz with a little Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Barossa Valley wine region is located one hour north of Adelaide. Founded over 150 years ago by Silesian settlers that mainly planted French vines such as Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Pinot noir, Muscat, Chardonnay, Sémillon and Colombard, but also Riesling. It was here that Syrah from the Rhône valley found a home away from home. Today, the Barossa valley still boasts century-old Shiraz and Grenache vines, which are cultivated without irrigation. The vines bear the signatures of the brown clay sand they are planted in. Leading Australian wine producers have settled in the Barossa Valley, where they also process the grapes of other wine regions.

In 1996 the summer in Australia was rather cool and so the harvest began later than usual, but especially in South Australia elegant and yet powerful red wines were produced. The wines from McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley, including this classic wine from one of the best wineries in Australia, are among the best of this vintage.

The 1996 vintage Penfolds Grange was rated 93 points by Robert Parker in 2002. It was rated 95 points on Wine Spectator’s website in 2008. Falstaff chief editor Peter Moser rated the wine 93 points in 2012.

The fill levels are excellent (into neck). The labels and capsules are in perfect condition.

Penfolds

Penfolds is one of the oldest and most important vineyards of Australia. In 1844, Dr. Christopher Penfolds and his wife Mary bought the 200 hectares Mackgill Estate (today Magill), after they emigrated from London to Australia. They started planting vine stocks, which they had purchased beforehand in France, around a small country house that they constructed themselves and named The Grange. While Christopher worked as a doctor in Adelaide, Mary took care of the estate and wine production. At the time, mainly Sherry and port wine were produced, only later also red and white wine was sold. After Christopher’s death in 1870, Mary took over management of the estate, later their daughter Georgina and son-in-law Thomas Hyland were in charge of the facilities. In the early 20th Century, Penfolds already reached the status of the largest vineyard around Adelaide, and they continued expanding and acquiring more wine-growing land. In the 1940s and 1950s, the real rise of began, when the cellarer Max Schubert visited Bordeaux after the Second World War and started experimenting with new methods. In the end, this lead to the invention of Australia’s most famous wine, the Grange Hermitage. The designation Hermitage, which used to be the name of a type of Australian Shiraz, was omitted later. The wines by Penfolds are not produced in one location as in France or in Italy, the grapes are rather harvested and processed later into a wine. Today, Penfolds is part of the Treasury Wine Estates and produces a number of different wines, with Grange still being their best-known and most popular wine.