Penfolds Bin 95 Grange Shiraz 1998
Product Information:
The 1998 vintage of Penfolds Grange may rank amongst the very finest released. Grange is both Penfolds and Australia's most famous 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 climate of South Australia.
The 1998 Penfolds Grange, which is comprised of 97% Shiraz and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon displays fully-ripe, intensely-flavoured and textured fruit in combination with new American oak. The result is a unique Australian style that is now recognised as 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.
Combining traditional Australian techniques, inspiration from Europe and precision winemaking practices developed at Penfolds, Max Schubert made his first experimental wine in 1951. In 1957, Schubert was asked to show his efforts in Sydney to top management, invited wine identities and personal friends of the board. To his horror, the Grange experiment was universally disliked and Schubert was ordered to shut down the project. Max continued to craft his Grange vintages in secret, hiding three vintages '57, '58 and '59, in the depths of the cellars. Eventually, the Penfolds board ordered production of Grange to restart, just in time for the 1960 vintage. From then on, international acknowledgment and awards were bestowed on Grange, including the 1990 vintage of Grange, which was named Wine Spectator's Red Wine of the Year in 1995.
Maker:
Penfolds has been a pioneer in the world of winemaking since its establishment in 1844 by Dr. Christopher and Mary Penfold. The company's success has been driven by a lineage of visionary winemakers who have pushed the development of the company to extraordinary, bold new heights. Mary Penfold's reign at the helm of Penfolds saw years of determination and endeavour, experimenting with new methods in wine production. In 1948, Max Schubert became the company's first Chief Winemaker and he propelled Penfolds onto the global stage with his experimentation of long-lasting wines - the creation of Penfolds Grange in the 1950s. Soon, the medals began flowing, and Grange quickly became one of the most revered wines around the world. In 2012, Penfolds released its most innovative project to date - 12 handcrafted ampoules of the rare 2004 Kalimna Block Cabernet Sauvignon. Today, Penfolds continues to hold dear the philosophies and legends that have driven the company's success since its establishment in 1844.
Vineyards:
The 1998 vintage had cool spring weather followed by a warm summer and very low rainfall created one of the classic vintages of the last two decades. Fruit quality was outstanding with incredible intensity of flavour, fine tannins and structure. The 1998 vintage of Penfolds Grange may rank amongst the very finest released.
Nose - Creme de Cassis, Blueberries, Floral Notes
The nose is youthful and intense with dark, ripened Satsuma plum fruits rising above a base of liqueured dark chocolate and liquorice
Palate - Meaty, Plum, Cola
Bright, crushed cranberry, dense blackberry, liquorice, raisins, woodspice and a hiss of blueberry, with a spit-and-polish of sweet smoky milk chocolate flavour.
Finish - Sweet Tannin, Layered Dark Fruits, Woodspice
The power of the fruit at the fore is balanced with ripe velvety tannins, offering an alluring even-textured palate with remarkable length.
This is going to be a legendary Grange. The wine shows an extraordinarily intense nose of creme de cassis intermixed with blueberries and almost floral notes. As the wine sits in the glass, some meat, plum, and cola notes emerge. In the mouth, it is absolute perfection, seamless, with extraordinarily sweet tannin, well-integrated acidity, sensational extract, and just layer upon layer of blackberry and cassis fruits that stain the palate and fill the mouth. Its harmony, freshness, and remarkable length (nearly a minute) suggest an all-time classic and another legend. - Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate, 99 Points.
The temptation must have been to create a monster and while there’s plenty of weighty, black, aniseedy fruit here, the salaciousness is entirely less aggressive than you’d expect. In short, it’s curvaceous but considered; it’s full of saturated, plummy fruit that somehow has proven almost totally porous to the best-of-the-best new American oak. At this early stage complexity is no great issue and yet there’s an array of fruit flavours already showing: bright, crushed cranberry, dense blackberry, licorice, raisins, woodspice and a hiss of blueberry, with a spit-and-polish of sweet smoky milk chocolate flavour. It’s like a bigger version of the 1998 St Henri, with oak a lot less prominent than you’d expect. - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front, 97 Points.
The Finer Details
Style - Red Wine
Varietal - Shiraz 97%, Cabernet Sauvignon 3%
Country - Australia
Region - Barossa Valley, South Australia
Vintage - 1998
Bottle Size - 750ml
ABV - 14.5%