Penfolds - Grange Hermitage South Australia 1981 (750ml)
Wine Advocate: 97 Points
The 1981 stood out as slightly superior. Winemaker John Duval always felt this was a tannic style of Grange but the wine has shed its tannins and this is one of the few vintages where the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon was above 10%. Sweet notes of creme de cassis cedarwood charcoal and barbecue spices are followed by a full-bodied opulent wine displaying heady amounts of alcohol glycerin and density in its full-bodied skyscraper-like texture. I was drinking this wine with great pleasure in the mid-nineties yet here it is nearly 15 years later and the wine does not appear to have budged much from its evolutionary state. This is a testament to how remarkably well these wines hold up and age at such a glacial pace. Grange Penfolds? flagship wine is by many accounts the most renowned and world-famous wine produced in Australia and these six vintages from my cellar all acquitted themselves well. These wines are almost always Shiraz but many vintages include less than 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and there are cross-appellations blends from vineyards in the Barossa and McLaren Vale. Published: Jun 29 2009
