Grange Hermitage 2004 Penfolds

Latest Pro-tasting notes

35 tasting notes

98p by Jeremy Oliver / BWW2024 Finalist
97p by Pekka Nuikki / Editor of the Fine Wine Magazines and Champagne Magazine
96p by Jeannie Bolt
19.5p by Jancis Robinson MW / BWW2024/Best Wine Critic of the World
19p by Julia Harding MW / BWW2024 Finalist
19p by Julia Harding MW / BWW2024 Finalist
96p by Jarkko Paananen
98p by Pekka Nuikki / Editor of the Fine Wine Magazines and Champagne Magazine

Tasting note

color

Deep, Ruby red and Clear

ending

Long, Flavorful and Lingering

flavors

Cherry, Blackcurrant, Licorice, Blackberry, Pepper and Toasty

nose

Youthful, Seductive, Refined and Pure

recommend

Yes

taste

Average in Acidity, Warming, Low tannin, Balanced, Well-structured, Good texture, Youthful, Full-bodied, Focused, Rich, Fresh, Dry and Silky tannins

Verdict

Impressive and Masterpiece

Written Notes

Opaque reds and purples with a red rim. The identity of this wine, as with all in the competition, was, of course, blind, but I don't think it would have fooled too many, though picking the vintage was not quite so obvious. That said, again, I think most would have opted for 2002 or 2004, as the wine certainly had a bit of maturity to it and was of such class and quality that it had to be one of the truly great years. A glorious wine. Definitely one to do anything possible to make sure you experience it at some stage. Cigar box, dark fruits plum, spices, truffles. It oozes complexity, intensity and richness. It is dense and rich. Plenty of acidity backing it. But everything is balanced. There is some early development, but it is balanced and fresh. This is just such a classy wine. A very long way to go in what should be a stunning journey. Magnificent. There was some debate about the best wine of the competition, and it was by no means unanimous across the board, but for me, this got the nod.

- Ken Gargett

4% Cabernet (1991 had the highest proportion ever of Cabernet with 14%), 85+% Barossa Valley (lots of Kalmina and other growers' grapes), some Magill, plus a tiny bit of McLaren Vale – and, voice drops, a little bit, 4%, of Block 42 (2004 Kalmina Block 42, eg, Bin 60A – planted in the mid 1880s). 'This Grange is the last of our '04 releases.' 16 months in 100% new US oak.
Very dark blackish crimson. Lots buried in there – spice and tarmacadam and the merest whiff of treacle toffee but overall amazing life and energy. Lifted and above all fresh! Wonderfully subtle and savoury and with a hint of cough medicine but wonderfully dry and thick and long on the palate. Serious first growth claret build (with which comment I presumably insult all parties...) Australia lurks in the undercurrent rather than imposes itself on the flavour of this wine. No heat at all. Extremely fine tannins. Wonderfully suave and really not like any other wine I can think of. At this stage not noticeably sweet. Gago, like all those previously in charge of making Grange, insists that he has done nothing to change the style – in which case 2004 must be a particularly sophisticated vintage. So persistent!

- Jancis Robinson MW / BWW2024/Best Wine Critic of the World

Just released. 4.1% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Inky black with black cherry core. Nose dominated by sweet oak spice but there's still fine cassis perfume underneath that oak. Sweetness of blueberry emerges. Very opulent and carressing on the palate. Deep pile and velvety but not thick. More approachable possibly than the 1998 even though it is still so youthful. Wonderfully pure cassis fruit. Already silky even though there's that classic richness in the mouth.

- Julia Harding MW / BWW2024 Finalist

Penfolds Grange 2004 /Now here is a challenging wine to review. The reviewers are swooning, the faithful are lining up at the Magill cellar door, even the mainstream press is giving it coverage (great to see, more please). In short, it is a ‘loaded’ wine: A bottle of fermented grape juice that comes so full of preconceptions, myth & mystique that actual tasting notes are redundant with reviewers serve to only agree or disagree with the greatness.

So, at first, I thought I would just not score this, to be a self righteous knob and just rattle off some descriptors and the odd opinion, before leaving a hole where the score would be at the end. But, instead, I sat there trying to work out what, if anything, was wrong with it. Approach a tasting with the idea that all wine is perfect until proven not. Its actually great fun, but also seems counter intuitive with the whole critical tasting idea. In the end, I decided that if you were to hold up a wine as the model for The Ultimate Young South Australian Shiraz, you couldn’t really go wrong with this.

Purple, dark red in colour. Sweet, malted coconut oak, interwoven with really bright red fruit, like a raspberry bounty & just a smidgen of (classic for Grange) VA. Cocoa. Black fruit. Impossibly youthful. Actually, it reminds me a lot of the 2005 Moss Wood on the nose, with it’s surreal, sweet youthful fruit and oak amalgam. Its a purity of fruit and well judged oak at its zenith, and its hard not too love. I think, however, that as a young wine, many European palates would find this too sweet. Leave it for a decade before serving it to the Poms then.

On the palate, well, it is drier, deeper and blacker than the sweet nose, much like 70% dark chocolate. Palate wise its red/black fruit dominant and utterly Penfoldian in its firm, quit sweet tannins. It’s sweet, but so structured and balanced that it feels velvety. Velvety like Burgundy. Effortless softness that is so seductive that you don’t notice the tannins, even though they hang in the background, ready to kick. I think that’s called balance. And it makes this wine the hero that it’s purported to be.

So in the end, in my quest to examine this wines perfection credentials, I really couldn’t find much wrong with it. Perhaps its a bit too sweet, otherwise it really is a brilliant South Australian Shiraz. The only question, perhaps, is whether it is ‘that much’ better than the 04 St Henri. And that question is largely answered by your wallet…19.3/97

- Andrew Graham

Deep purple crimson. Fresh buoyant blackberry/ elderberry/ blueberry/ spice aromas with some vanilla oak nuances. A very concentrated and powerful wine with deepset blackberry/ elderberry fruit, well-balanced vanilla/ malt oak and chocolaty fine tannins. Finishes chalky firm with superb flavour length. A superb Grange Vintage. Released in 2009. 96% Shiraz 4% Cabernet Sauvignon Barossa Valley (including substantial proportion of Kalimna Shiraz), McLaren Vale and Magill fruit. An excellent year. Beneficial winter and spring rains were followed by cool to mild conditions over summer. Ripening accelerated through a warm Indian summer resulting in near perfect fruit. A great Grange Vintage.

- Andrew Caillard MW / BWW2024 Finalist

Penfolds Grange 2004 / Enticingly fragrant, yet at once 'Grange' - elements of cola, bay-leaf, malt, Indian spices & nougat. An ethereal oriental lift of glazed Peking Duck is interspersed with fermented black Chinese tea. Oak at one with the wine, other aromatics unite to create a continuum of spice & fruit. Impressive. Seamless redefined. Classic Grange structure - tight, defined & balanced, with 'slatey' / sandy tannins. Saturated fruits - blackberry and concentrated Satsuma plum skin. A darkened flavour theme of chocolate, liquorice and fermented black Chinese tea mask any overt presence of new oak, courting a long, effortless finish. Intense, powerful vs. composed, polished - an enviable counter-balance.

- Peter Gago / Penfolds

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