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Viinin Kuvailu
The Story
Grange is arguably Australia’s most celebrated 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 climates of South Australia. Grange utilises fully-ripe, intensely-flavoured and textured Shiraz grapes. The result is a unique Australian style that is now recognised as one of 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.
Wine Information
A wine of extraordinary dimension and power, intensely concentrated and packed with fruit sweetness, Penfolds Grange requires medium to long-term cellaring. With time, it develops into an immensely complex, beguiling wine that seduces the senses. Considered a very successful release from what Max Schubert considered a difficult vintage, 1969 Grange went on to win five Trophies, six Gold, six Silver and two Bronze medals between 1969 and 1975. Bottles from this vintage were labelled with two different Bin numbers 826 and
Penfolds Grange is an Australian icon, a National Trust of South Australia, Heritage-listed wine which captures both a sense of country and the essence of Australian agricultural ingenuity, and innovation. The story of Grange is steeped in the Australian ethos. Max Schubert battled against the odds to succeed at creating one of the very great wines of the world. 1969 Grange is a blend of 95% Shiraz and 5% cent Cabernet Sauvignon grown at the Kalimna and other Barossa vineyards, Magill Estate, Clare Valley, Morphett Vale and the Coonawarra. Mild, wet conditions prevailed during the growing season and vintage. Maturation for eighteen months in new American oak hogsheads. Alcohol 12.40% Acidity 6.10g/L pH 3.69.
Penfolds Grange displays fully-ripe, intensely-flavoured and textured Shiraz grapes in combination with new American oak. The fastidious and passionate winecraft leads to a unique Australian style, recognised as a consistent peer of the world's greate wines. Notes of earth, plum, mushrooms, and roasted vegetables emerge from the wine. Slightly Shiraz spicey, a medium body, some notes of coffee and molasses, a smoky, oaky bouquet with candied fruits, sweet leather and chracters of ripe berries.
Winemaker comments by Max Schubert: Medium brick red. Overdeveloped, nutty/ leathery fruit with touches of game. Slightly bitter and fading, with developed, nutty, leather/briar fruit, drying tannins and moderate length.
Vuosikerta 1969
Australia / The third wettest winter in half a century followed onto a wet, late vintage with growers and wineries fearing a disaster. While the season produced record yields it also led to disease pressure and poor set and the resultant red wines were “ordinary” and have not lasted.
In 1969 there were 7,076 hectares of vineyards in Barossa and 30,273 tonnes of wine grapes were crushed in that vintage.
The widespread appearance of downy mildew in the Barossa, which was traditionally a low-disease risk grape growing region, caused such severe damage that some leading wines were not made that year and many wines were subject to lactase attack.
The Riverland led the Barossa in the development of new labour saving technology such as machine harvesting and also the introduction of drip irrigation. Nevertheless, more than 60% of Barossa growers were using some form of supplementary irrigation in 1969, particularly furrow irrigation from creeks. An awareness of the negative aspect of irrigation was noticed following measurements of salinity fluctuations.
Marginal increases in grape prices were paid in 1969, due to the demand for better quality fruit grown in the Barossa compared with the Riverland.
A major expansion took place at Leo Buring raising capacity from 1,700 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes. This included a new vintage cellar, new crushing facilities, a new concept in red fermentation using stainless steel jetting tanks, new pressure fermentation vessels for the production of Sparkling Rhinegolde, a new bottling line and extra refrigeration.
Tollana planted the largest contoured vineyard in Australia at Woodbury in the Eden Valley, to prevent soil erosion and moisture loss.
Kies Family Wines was established at Lyndoch.