Winemaker Notes
From humble beginnings in the 1950s, Grange has maintained its place as Australia's most prestigious red wine over four decades. Today, it is a wine of international renown, with each vintage eagerly awaited by collectors both in Australia and overseas.
Penfolds Grange is a wine of extraordinary dimension and power. Richly textured, intensely concentrated and packed with fruit sweetness, these wines, regardless of vintage, require medium to long-term cellaring. They develop into immensely complex, beguiling wines that seduce the senses.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet with a touch of brick, the 2002 Grange is locked in a time capsule, like many of the 2002s, yielding a very youthful nose of red currants and red cherries, kirsch and violets with some lovely exotic spices in the background. Quite perfumed and pretty in terms of fruit expression in the mouth, the structure is rock solid, with a lively backbone cutting through the muscular fruit and great purity to the finish.
Rating: 98+ -
Wine & Spirits
The summer of 2002 was one of the coldest on record, the autumn warm and dry: The season clearly branded this vintage of Grange with beautiful cool fruit and extremely long flavors. The fireworks that Grange can produce are subtle in '02, exploding out in all directions while leaving a sense of elegance. Its power continues to build over the course of several days, almost electric with coffee, mocha, plum and red berry flavors. A graceful Grange? Yes, and sure to be long-lived as well.
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Wine Spectator
Lithe, almost subtle, this is a dense, powerful wine that plays its plum and currant fruit against deft nuances of pepper, coffee and sassafras. Finishes with vibrant acidity that elevates the fruit and spice. A graceful wine that needs cellaring to grow into itself.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The masterful 2002 Penfolds Grange comes through with excellent power and finesse. TASTING NOTES: This wine shines with bright red and black fruit aromas and flavors. Its liveliness pairs it well with roast game birds. (Tasted, May 1, 2007, San Francisco, CA)
Since 1844, Penfolds has been grounded in experimentation, curiosity and uncompromising quality. Their success has been driven by a lineage of visionary winemakers. It began with Dr. Christopher and Mary Penfold, the pioneers who dreamed big, inventing tonics, brandies, and fortified wines made from grapes and Australian sunshine. It continued with celebrated winemaking legends including Max Schubert, who pushed the development to extraordinary, bold new heights. It is this pioneering spirit and curiosity that still rings true after nearly two centuries, it is what has helped Penfolds become one of the most celebrated winemakers in the world today.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
South Australia is the historic heart of Australian wine, a great wine capital of the world, and home to some of the most famous regions. It produces more than 80% of Australia’s premium wine from some of the oldest vines in the world. There is an abundance of varieties and wide spectrum of styles to explore. From the rogue to refined, discover Australian wines that are far from ordinary.