Penfolds Grange Hermitage is Our Specialty! Penfolds Grange Years from 1952-2004, Sharp Prices and Next-Day Delivery from Cold Wine Storage Make Buying Penfolds Grange Easy and Convenient.

Penfolds Grange Listings are 100% "Live"
Cellarit Wine Market listings of Penfolds Grange are 100% live, meaning if a Grange is listed below, it's available (more).

Where's My Hermitage?
Sometimes buyers are confused about whether they're buying a bottle of Penfolds Grange Hermitage or Penfolds Grange. The original name of Grange Hermitage was shortened to Grange from the 1990 vintage onward and most professionals and collectors simply use Grange regardless of the vintage.

Penfolds Grange Red Wine Clinic
Some owners of Penfolds Grange bottles take them to a Penfolds Red Wine Clinic where they are opened and tested by a team of Penfolds winemakers. If the bottle of Grange is sound, it's topped up, recorked, recapsuled and a certification label is affixed to the back of the bottle, signed by the winemaker. Should you buy original bottles of Penfolds Grange or "Clinic" bottles? Many Penfolds Grange buyers and collectors prefer an original Grange that hasn't been opened. Others, perhaps buying a bottle of Penfolds Grange to drink or give as a gift, prefer bottles of Penfolds Grange certified by the Penfolds Red Wine Clinic because of their lower risk of being "corked" or oxidised. There's no "right" answer, it's a matter of personal preference.

History of Penfolds Grange Hermitage
From humble beginnings in the 1950s, Penfolds Grange has maintained its place as Australia's most prestigious red wine over four decades. Penfolds Grange is a wine of extraordinary dimension and power. Richly textured, intensely concentrated and packed with fruit sweetness, these wines, regardless of vintage, require medium to long-term cellaring. They develop into immensely complex, beguiling wines that seduce the senses. An Australian icon, Penfolds Grange represents a tradition in winemaking that is totally uncompromising. Penfolds Grange has bypassed the fads and trends of modern winemaking in the sense that it has maintained an integrity of style and remained true to its origins in the mind of Max Schubert. Penfolds Grange is the quality standard against which all other Australian red wines are judged. To share a mature Penfolds Grange, 15 to 20 years old, in fine condition, is one of the great wine experiences. Wine Spectator magazine named the 1990 vintage Penfolds Grange 'The Best Red Wine in the World'. This accolade has sent the price of both the '90 and subsequent vintage releases soaring at auction. (Source: Penfolds.com.au for Penfolds Grange tasting notes)

Penfolds Grange Reviews by Robert Parker (source: Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate and erobertparker.com)
The Cellarit Penfolds Grange page includes additional information, such as wine reviews for many of the Penfolds Grange vintages as well as user reviews. Please feel free to add your opinion about your favourite Grange! Here's some general information plus a few examples of the Penfolds Grange reviews written by wine critic Robert Parker:

VERTICAL TASTING OF PENFOLDS GRANGE
June, 2001

The last time I did a vertical of Grange was reported in Issue 100 (8-31-95) from a tasting done at the Montrachet restaurant in New York. It included most of the vintages between 1955 and 1989. I subsequently added the 1990 that had just been released. On a 2001 trip to the Barossa and McLaren Vale wine regions of South Australia, I had an opportunity to have an even more extensive vertical tasting of the Penfolds Grange, this time at Penfolds' Magill estate in Adelaide. These wines had never moved from their region of origin.

Penfolds' production ranges between 8,000 and 10,000 cases in abundant years. It continues to be one of the most concentrated and respected wines in the world. It is still aged in 100% American oak barrels, not fined, but filtered at bottling. For reasons that escape me, the Penfolds winemaking staff continues to candidly admit the addition of tannic acid, although I wonder whether this is really necessary in a wine that, even in the softest vintages, has 15 or 20 years of aging potential. Another advantage of the tasting, aside from being done at Penfolds' Magill estate, is that all these wines were from bottles that had not been recorked. The following notes are from June 2001. In the title bar, I have included my rating from the tasting that was done in 1995 for identical vintages tasted. Readers should note that in 1990, due to complaints from producers in the appellation of Hermitage in France's Rhone Valley, the word "Hermitage" was dropped from the label.

Penfolds Grange Hermitage 1976 - 100 Points

Consistently one of the most awesome wines ever made at Grange, this blend of 89% Shiraz and 11% Cabernet Sauvignon (13.9% alcohol) was the first Australian wine to cost $20 upon release. I have had this wine six separate times, every time rating it between 96 and 100. It had a phenomenal showing at Penfolds' Magill estate. The color is an opaque purple, the wine massive, full-bodied, and to me, the quintessential Grange. Notes of blackberry liqueur intermixed with cassis, charcoal, new saddle leather, and underbrush resonate from the glass. Huge, thick, unctuously textured, with extraordinary concentration but perfect harmony among all of its elements, this is a prodigious Grange that is still not fully mature. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2020. A legend for sure! (Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate)

Penfolds Grange Hermitage 1986 - 99 Points

A current as well as future legend, this has long been considered by Penfolds' winemaking team as the greatest Grange of the 1980s. And why not? A blend of 87% Shiraz and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, it tips the scales at nearly 14% alcohol. I have been fortunate to have this wine nearly a dozen times, and I have consistently rated it 96-100. It was virtually perfect in June, exhibiting an opaque purple color and a provocative nose of creme de cassis intermixed with smoke, chocolate, licorice, new saddle leather, and pepper. The wine is fleshy, massively concentrated, multi-dimensional with extraordinary power, beautifully integrated acidity, tannin, and alcohol, that seems to only occur in the greatest vintages. Moreover, the wine is still a baby and ideally in need of another 3-5 years of cellaring. This is a Grange to kill for. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2030 (eRobertParker.com # E2002 Feb 2002)

Penfolds Grange 1998 - 99 Points

The 1998 Grange will be legendary. A blend of 97% Shiraz and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, it tips the scales at a whopping 14.5% alcohol. The inky/purple color is followed by an extraordinarily intense nose of creme de cassis intermixed with blueberry and floral notes. As the wine sits in the glass, aromas of meat, plums, and cola also emerge. It is a seamless effort with sweet tannin, well-integrated acidity, sensational extract, and layer upon layer of blackberry and cassis fruit that stain the palate and fill the mouth. Its harmony, freshness, and remarkable length (the finish lasts nearly a minute) suggest an all-time classic. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2030 (Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate # 148 Aug 2003)

Penfolds Grange 2001 - 98 Points

It is always a treat to taste Australia’s most famous wine, Penfolds’ Grange cuvee (the word Hermitage has been dropped because of legal issues). The 2001 Grange is one of the few vintages of this cuvee to be composed of 100% Shiraz (the others being 1951, 1952, 1963, 1999, and 2000). Aged 17 months in 100% American oak, and tipping the scales at 14.5% alcohol, the 2001 is undeniably one of the top examples of this wine. At this stage, it appears to eclipse the 1998 and 1996. Inky/blue/purple to the rim, with a stunning perfume of blueberries, blackberries, chocolate, graphite, and earth, it boasts good acidity, huge tannins, magnificent concentration, and a multilayered, textured mouthfeel. It is a big, but impeccably well-balanced Shiraz that should shed some of its structure and tannin over the next 4-5 years, and be at its best between 2010-2030+ (Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate # 167 Oct 2006)

Please click on the icon next to any Penfolds Grange on the list below to read more reviews of Penfolds Grange by Robert Parker and others.

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