Ranked #1 of 563 2017 Shiraz from South Australia
99/100
5 Stars
Bob Campbell
Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale. Only the 7th Grange to be made from 100% shiraz (on its 70th anniversary). (other 100% vintages were 1951, 1952, 1963, 1999, 2000 and 2011). Intense, youthful shiraz with layers of dark berry, smoky oak, savoury, baked earth, exotic spices, cedar, tobacco and cacao powder plus much more. It has an impeccable balance of alcohol sweetness, with assertive tannins and fruit versus savoury characters. This wine has the X-factor. It promises to age magnificently.
Tasted: 10/11/2021
Drink: 2021 to 2060
96 Points Robert Parker
Strongly marked—as always—by its 100% American oak elevage, the 2017 Grange backs up the cedar and vanilla notes with ample blackberry and cassis fruit. Full-bodied, ripe and almost decadently creamy in the mouth, it's loaded with substance, concentrated and rich, yet—in the context of Grange—relatively light and elegant-seeming on the finish. Only the seventh-ever Grange to be exclusively Shiraz, it originates from Barossa Valley (86%) and McLaren Vale (14%); Shiraz from other growing regions in South Australia failed to make the grade this year. Drink 2023 - 2040.
Source: Robert Parker.
97 Points James Halliday
Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale fruit. Matured 18 months in 100% new American oak hogsheads. The inky density and impenetrable presence that proclaim Grange are irrefutable, even in the cooler 2017 season, in which sourcing has been pulled back to the strongholds of the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. It’s all here: black fruits of every kind, licorice, dark chocolate, coffee bean, coal dust, even a suggestion of fruit-mince spice. A wall of Grange tannins hold back its immense force, as finely engineered as ever. The finish holds motionless for minutes, with a stature and presence possessed only by Grange, yet at every moment upholding statuesque poise, integrity, even tang in this cooler season. Drink to 2052.
Source: Real Review.