Vertical Tasting Penfolds Grange: A leyend lives on

The firm, outspoken notes of the wines chosen for a vertical tasting of the 80s vintages of this giant of the Australian wine industry caused quite a stir. 

An emblematic tasting of Penfolds Grange, hailed as the first icon wine of the New World, took place during the Six Nations Wine Challenge held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Sydney, Australia. Interestingly, many of the vintages crafted by winemaker John Duval are currently sold USD 1,000 a bottle or more.

The wines were served during a benefit dinner to support The International Young Sommeliers Competition organized by Chaîne des Rôtisseurs. Six Nations Wine Challenge, represented by President Judith Kennedy, is one of the major sponsors of this event. Among the 25 guests were the six judges of this important challenge that gathers 600 of the best New World wines.

Each of the attending judges –Huon Hooke (Australia), Bob Campbell (New Zealand), Michael Fridjhon (South Africa), Jon Bonné (United States), Christopher Waters (Canada) and myself (Chile)– was responsible for presenting –as imaginatively and humorously as possible–one of the vintages and for explaining to our fellow diners the benefits of pairing the wines they were avidly tasting, with the Opera House as a backdrop, with modern recipes of duck, wagyu beef and lamb.

I was assigned the warm 1989 vintage, incidentally, a banner year for me, as I was graduating from high school, narrowly escaping the military service on the grounds of poor sight, asthma, and flat foot (my file read ‘unfit’), and getting ready to enroll in law school, totally unaware that I would end up as a judge…. but a wine one.

The history of Grange is both epic and singular. When Penfolds chief winemaker Max Schubert presented the blend to the board in Sydney, back in 1957, the directors literally threw the wine at his face. Their palates simply could not cope with so much ripeness and voluptuousness. In Adelaide, some 1,400 km away from the board, the project went on secretly. Consequently, the 1957-1929 vintages are known today as the “hidden Granges.”

Only several years later, wines evolved, their juvenile vigor appea- sed, did the board give a second try to those wines in a vertical tasting of vintages 1951-1955 presented by Schubert. It was then that they fell head over heels with its potential and the wine set on a path that would take it to become a legend of Australian wine.

Grange’s secret lies in having turned blending into an art. Yet, wa- ywardness, iron will, and consistency also played their part. In Penfolds’ recent history, not only Grange’s, there have only been 4 chief wine- makers: Max Schubert (1948-1975), Don Ditter (1975-1986), John Duval (1986-2002), and Peter Gago (2012 to present days). Although some see Grange as a dinosaur, a thing from the past, it is a myth that evolves graciously and dazzles with its intense power and elegance.