Tech Notes
Wine Details
International Wine Report
Wine Spectator
Wine Advocate
Vinous
Wine Enthusiast
Jeb Dunnuck
Halliday Wine Companion
James Suckling
Wine and Spirits
Decanter
Jancis Robinson
By Penfolds
2014 Grange
The Story of Grange
The development of Max Schubert's Grange is a modern tale of imagination, a battle against the odds, and redemption. It began with a trip to Bordeaux, where a wine 'capable of staying alive for a minimum of twenty years' first entered Schubert's mind. His first experimental vintage in 1951 began a new way of thinking that would eventually lead to a signature wine style, but not before Grange was discredited and Max Schubert was forced to make the wine in secrecy.
Wine Description
The original and most powerful expression of Penfolds' multi-vineyard, multi-district blending philosophy, Grange is arguably Australia's most celebrated wine and is officially listed as a Heritage Icon of South Australia. Crafted utilizing fully ripe, intensely flavored, and structured Shiraz grapes, the result is a unique Australian style now recognized as one of the most consistent of the world's great wines. With an unbroken line of vintages from the experimental 1951, Grange clearly demonstrates the synergy between Shiraz and the soils and climates of South Australia. Grange was recently recognized as a First Growth in Liv-ex's recreation of the Bordeaux 1855 classification.
2014 Vintage Details
Above-average winter rainfall equipped the vines across South Australia with healthy soil moisture profiles. Spring in the Barossa Valley was the windiest in 47 years, with significant heat records set. Warm conditions prevailed during summer and throughout veraison. However, just as vintage was about to commence, an extreme rainfall event occurred in the Barossa Valley and Clare Valley, slowing harvest. This extra time allowed grapes to ripen evenly with good flavor and tannin development. By contrast, McLaren Vale had 21% less rain than the long-term average from September to March. September was the wettest of the spring months, with a hailstorm and windy conditions prevailing from October through November, while harvest in McLaren Vale was delayed due to a rain event in mid-February. Wrattonbully and Coonawarra both enjoyed good winter and spring rainfall, with cold and wet conditions carrying well into December. There were heat spikes through summer, with temperatures reaching 43 degrees C on February 2nd. By mid-autumn, the weather had settled to generally cooler conditions, optimal for slow ripening. Across South Australia, Shiraz benefited from the long spell between veraison and harvest, with grapes exhibiting brightness, crisp acid retention, and impressive fruit quality overall.
Wine Details
Vintage: 2014
Alcohol: 14.50%
pH: 3.63
Maturation: 100% new American oak hogsheads
Tasting Notes
Deep plush garnet throughout, from core to rim. Quite simply, an unmistakable 'Grange' nose. Awakened primary fruits and stylish oak interlocked and indistinguishable. As expected. Poised yet powerful. A balanced, tightly-knit, and woven structural 'tapestry.' Not to be constrained by dimension or frame. Tannins with attitude! Nonetheless respectful. Slatey tannins, alluvial, silty. Long and lingering tactile impressions indistinguishably and slowly fuse/merge into an aftertaste memory. Until the next sip!
[Information provided by Penfolds]
Unit Size | 750.00 ML |
Varietal | Shiraz
|
Vintage | 2014 |
Grape | Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon |
Country | Australia |
Region | South Australia
|
PENFOLDS Shiraz 'Grange' 2014
Rating: 98
Producer: Penfolds
Vintage: 2014
Drink: 2020-2045
Country: Australia
Appellation: Barossa Valley
Report Date: April, 2019
Editor: O. Bargreen
The 2014 Penfolds 'Grange' Shiraz is an absolutely stunning wine that embodies precision, power and finesse. An ultra-ripe dense core, this 2014 Shiraz opens with intense tar, Turkish coffee, blueberry pie and sandalwood accents that round out this seductive nose. The palate is plush and inviting, showing off a downright sexy mouthfeel. This wine seamlessly glides across the mid-palate, delivering blackberry cordial, sweet pipe tobacco, anise and creme de cassis flavors that connect with the wonderfully refined tannins. Massive, yet showing a beautiful sense of elegance and place, this incredible wine will cellar marvelously for decades.
Penfolds Shiraz South Australia Grange 2014
Score: 98
Price: $850
Wine Type and Color: Red Still
Reviewed By: MaryAnn Worobiec
Accolades: Collectible
Drinkability: Drink now through 2035
Primary Grape: Shiraz
Issue: March 31, 2019
Region: Australia / South Australia
At first glance, this is a purely indulgent wine, with gobs of creamy, milk chocolate-laden maraschino cherry, raspberry framboise and Earl Grey tea aromas. Then wave after wave of elements start filling in, with toasted cumin, peppermint oil, Kalamata olive and white pepper notes, combining into an almost overwhelming amount of details. Becomes indulgent again on the long, lush finish. Drink now through 2035.
2014 Penfolds Grange
Rating: 98
Producer: Penfolds
Wine Region: Australia, South Australia
Variety: Syrah
Color / Type / Sweetness: Red / Table / Dry
Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski
Release Price: $850
Drink Date: 2025 - 2050
Rich, concentrated and intense, the 2014 Grange delivers exactly what we've come to expect from this Penfolds icon wine. It's full-bodied, velvety in feel and loaded with plummy fruit, framed in vanilla and cedar. Dense, powerful and tannic, it should prove to be long lived, even by Grange standards. Gago doesn't rate the vintage overall that highly, but he says the selection this year for Grange was a bit more stringent and that production levels were just average.
Published: Oct 03, 2018
2014 Grange Bin 95
Producer: Penfolds Wines
Place of Origin: Australia, South Australia
Color: Red
Grape/Blend: Grange Bin 95
Rating: 97
Drinking Window: 2028 - 2040
From: The Barossa: An Ascent to Higher Quality (Dec 2021)
Brilliant purple. A heady, intensely perfumed bouquet evokes dark berry preserves, incense, candied flowers, vanilla and cola, with a smoky, incisive mineral nuance building with air. Juicy, penetrating and alluringly sweet, offering deeply concentrated blueberry, cherry-cola, mocha and violet pastille flavors and a strong suggestion of fruitcake. Shockingly vibrant for its depth, with youthfully firm tannins adding shape and grip to an extremely long, mineral- and floral-dominated finish.
By: Josh Raynolds on January 2021
Penfolds 2014 Grange Shiraz (South Australia)
From: South Australia, South Australia, Australia
Rating: 97 - Cellar Selection
Price: $850
Winery: Penfolds
Region: South Australia
Alcohol: 14.5%
Wine Type: Red
Bottle Size: 750 ml
Issue Date: 4/1/2019
The latest vintage of this iconic wine is more approachable and elegant than in previous years. This 98% Shiraz and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon blend offers an ocean of aromas: plum, mocha, coffee, tomato leaf, black olive, ground pepper, cedar, wet tarmac and sage. These tones swell toward a beautifully balanced palate that is powerful yet poised and silky in texture. The American oak is there but feels quieter than it has in the past, letting other nuances wash ashore, all held afloat by fine-grained herb and salt-flecked tannins. While other vintages seem untouchable in their youth, the 2014, with time in decanter, could offer immediate gratification yet still cellar well through 2044.
Reviewed By: Roger Voss
2014 Penfolds Grange
Producer: Penfolds
Location: Australia, South Australia
Color: Red
Price: $850
Rating: 97
Tasting Date: 12/13/2018
Maturity: 2022 - 2048
Reviewed By: Jeb Dunnuck
Source: Penfolds 2018 Collection
It’s always a pleasure to taste what unquestionably the reference point wine for Australia, and the 2014 Grange doesn’t disappoint. From a more difficult vintage for South Australia, it’s a blend of 98% Shiraz and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon that spent 20 months in all new American oak hogsheads, hitting a normal alcohol level of 14.5 with a healthy pH and acidity. Inky purple/blue colored, it offers a rocking bouquet of ripe plums, blueberries, vanilla bean, espresso, and graphite, with hints of mint and flowers developing with time in the glass. Deep, rich, fabulously concentrated, and pure on the palate, it stays tight and compact, with notable precision and length. It’s a seriously structured yet impeccably balanced effort that needs a solid 5-6 years to shed some tannin and gain volume, and will keep for 2+ decades after that.
Penfolds Grange Bin 95 2014
Winery: Penfolds
Variety: Shiraz
Colour: Red
Style: Still
Vintage: 2014
Halliday Rating: 97 - Gold
Date When Tasted: 28 Aug 2018
Alcohol: 14.50%
Drink By: 2044
Closure: Cork
Reviewed By: James Halliday
Published: 11 July 2021
98% Shiraz, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Wrattonbully, Coonawarra, Clare Valley and Magill Estate, matured for 20 months in new American hogsheads. Excellent colour for age; the ultra-fragrant and expressive bouquet implacably draws you in; a great deal of work must have gone into the blending of the components and drawing them seamlessly. An aristocratic Grange with all its components in utter harmony.
Penfolds Shiraz South Australia Bin 95 Grange 2014
Monday, Nov 26, 2018
Score: 96
Color: Red
Country: Australia
Region: South Australia
Vintage: 2014
Shows a cooler and more savory style from the get go. Darker, spicy aromas with notes of clove and soy, blackberries, bracken and wood, dried orange and dark chocolate. The depth of flavor is undeniable. There's elegance here too, in the sense that it is chiseled and contained, only broadening out at the finish. This has some growth to come in the bottle. Peter Gago's description of the tannins as 'slaty' is spot on; they are dark, stony and slick, smooth and strong. The flavors hang long into a tight, toasty and spicy finish. Luxuriant, long and powerful. A blend of 98 per cent [sic] Shiraz and two per cent [sic] Cabernet Sauvignon, sourced from Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Wrattonbully, Coonawarra, Clare Valley and Magill Estate. 20 months in 100 per cent new American-oak hogsheads. Try from 2025 and best after 2030.
Penfolds 2014 South Australia Grange Shiraz
Rating: 96
Price: $850
Grange is a blend from Penfolds’ top vineyards and best growers, including fruit from Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Wrattonbully (a first for Grange), Coonawarra, Clare Valley and the Magill Estate in the Adelaide Hills, where the winery got its start. That fruit selection finishes fermentation in new American oak barrels, where it then ages for 20 months. Peter Gago, who oversees the winemaking team, notes that winter and early-season rains differed substantially from Barossa and Clare down to McLaren Vale and Coonawarra. It was a warm summer to the north, with heat spikes in the south; then rain delayed harvest, allowing the fruit to ripen under generally cooler weather. That, in turn, allowed Gago to blend a plump, succulent Grange with complex layers of flavor, completely savory and ripe. The flavors might bring to mind black olive, black currant and seedy blackberries, accelerated by the espresso scents of new oak. There’s a restrained, slow-motion mineral explosion in the end, taking days to develop, lasting with a formality and elegance that belies the wine’s intoxicating richness. Great vintages of Grange last for decades; the original wines from the 1950s and ’60s are still remarkably fit, as this one should be decades from now.
(02/19)
Penfolds, Grange, South Australia, Australia, 2014
Tasted By: Stephen Brook (at Shanghai Fine Wine Encounter, 15 Nov 2019)
Part of Top Scoring Wines of 2019: 100 points
Drinking Window: 2020 - 2042
Tasting Score: 94
Producer: Penfolds
Brand: Grange
Vintage: 2014
Wine Type: Still
Colour: Red
Country: Australia
Region: South Australia
Sweetness: Dry
Closure: Cork
Alcohol: 14.50%
Body: Full
Oak: Oaked
Grapes: 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 98% Syrah / Shiraz
Hill of Grace's rival for Shiraz supremacy is surely the fabled Grange from Penfold's, which, in complete contrast, is and has always been, a multiregional blend. It's opaque in colour, with dense aromas of plums and fruitcake, cloves, raw meat, and mint cake - truly complex if rather overbearing. The palate is similarly bold and full-bodied, with immense tannins though not overblown. Robust and structured, of course, showing great energy and texture, but essentially monolithic. Very long.
Penfolds, Grange 2014 South Australia
Producer: Penfolds
Cuvee: Grange
Appellation: South Australia
Region: South Australia
Country: Australia
Colour: Red
Alcohol: 14.50%
Score: 18.5+/20
When to Drink: 2024 - 2054
Published On: 10 Apr 2021
Date Tasted: 9 Mar 2021
Reviewer: Richard Hemming MW
Enigmatic nose which seems very much in remission at present, but there's no shortage of flavour on the palate. Great big fruit power that delivers maximum impact and lingers on the finish. Even the oak gives way to its majesty. (RH)