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  • Country ranking ?

    155
  • Producer ranking ?

    100
  • Decanting time

    4h
  • When to drink

    from 2018
  • Food Pairing

    Garlic Roasted Pork Shoulder

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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James Suckling 93 points

A well-executed Grange in what must have been a stressful vintage, this has some good richness and concentration, the oak sits cedary but fruit is up to the task, dark berries in all shapes and sizes here, cola and sarsaparilla too, redder nuances, vanillin and liquorice. The palate's built in layers, really deep-set concentrated powerful fruit with some measure, good balance and depth, stylishly tailored structure and a polite, measured finish. Not a blockbuster in Grange terms, but this is a very good wine with clear Penfolds DNA. Balanced, not forced, Mr. Gago defintely gets an A for effort here. Best after 2023.

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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.

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Wine Information

Vintage 2011 / With above-average winter rainfalls and cool conditions that followed during the spring period, South Australian regions generally experienced a later budburst and viticultural pressures impacted to varying degrees across the state. Meticulous vineyard management was critical. Spring soil moisture levels resulted in healthy shoot growth and early canopy development. Healthy vegetative growth continued during the cooler spring months and delayed veraison and berry development in the New Year. A few warm days at the end of January guaranteed the completion of veraison and commencement of the ripening season. Careful canopy management across vineyards including Magill Estate ensured good light penetration into the fruit zone. With a focus on warmer regions, McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley fruit sourcing prevailed. Whilst rain events are documented, they were often isolated, and attention to detail was required with selective harvesting of pristine fruit

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Tasting note

color

Deep and Ruby red

ending

Long, Flavorful and Smooth

flavors

Blackberry, Chocolate, Blackcurrant, Raspberry, Cherry and Smoky

nose

Intense, Complex, Generous and Refined

taste

Average in Acidity, Perfectly balanced, Balanced, Concentrated, Youthful, Full-bodied, Harmonious, Firm, Round and Drying tannins

Verdict

Well-rounded and Fine

Written Notes

(raised in new American oak hogsheads for 17 months): Deep ruby. Fragrant aromas of spice- and smoke-accented dark berries and cherry pit. Chewy and focused on the palate, offering subtly sweet bitter cherry and floral pastille flavors with hints of vanilla and mocha. Fine-grained tannins give structure to the long, penetrating finish, which leaves toasty oak and licorice notes behind. While nobody should confuse this edition of Grange with the legendary bottlings of years past, it's an impressive effort for such a cold, rainy vintage. Production of this Australian icon was 50% of normal in 2011.

  • 93p

Only the sixth Grange to be 100% Shiraz. About half the average volume. 79% Barossa, 19% McLaren Vale, 2% Magill Estate. 17 months in 100% new American oak hogsheads with AB John. TA 6.6 g/l, pH 3.68. Shiraz is ripening earlier so that played into their hands. Intense nose. Thick and still jagged but there is lots of intensity there. Masses of tannin. Some tarriness. This is definitely in the Grange style - presumably the Cabernet just didn't get nearly ripe enough. Selection must have been particularly difficult - especially considering the sky-high price for this wine.

  • 93p

2011 Penfolds Grange
Opaque. Rich nose, intense, layered, needs hours to open and even after almost seven hours in the glass (after decanting), it still builds. It still ads. Anise, pepper, dark fruits, some red fruits comes and goes, touch of mint and eucalyptus, some vanilla, some spices, some blackberries. Even some floral notes shows up every now and then. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, rich, fruity, sweet dark fruits, layered, detailed, nuanced, but nothing is up front. Everything is hidden, compact and tight, yet it reveals layers upon layers. Long. Very long indeed. Save it for twenty years, will last fifty years more, or longer. 96

  • 96p

Deep and dense dark red / Instantly Grange – aromatically heralded from glass to nose via trademark formic and barrel ferment markers. Majestic.
Arguably a less-regal unfolding of sarsaparilla, creamy soda/cola-root beer nuances (how can this be?!), synergised with black (not red) liquorice and soy.

A 17 month sojourn in 100% new oak is certainly well-hidden – more than a disguise, complete concealment.
Archetypal North Barossa fruits extolling every varietal Shiraz variant!
Ten minutes later...

Revealingly, what initially appear to be reticent repressed fruits...soon overtly ascend – blackberry blackcurrant, g, rhubarb, quince.
A follow-up emission of black olive, shaved truf e, vanillin, boot polish, cola, ristretto coffee...with oak all but soaked up.

Proper, pronounced and peripheral grippy tannins input texturally, endorsing what is already a formidable structure, with impressive length, depth and weight.
Lively, assured...not trying too hard to be something it isn’t.

Good looking normal size bottle. Colour is ruby red and deep. On the nose it is open, intense, youthful, refined, complex, generous and charming. The taste is voluptuous, rich, focused, elegant, fragrant, fat, toasty,robust, firm, with drying tannins, and average in acidity, full-bodied, with balanced, complex, well-integrated, concentrated structure and youthful. On the palate it is layered and has chocolate, blackberry, raspberry and cherry flavours. The finish is long, endless, extensive, lingering and flavorful. This wine is excellent. Perfectly stored bottles are still very worthy and will last well for another 20-30 years and decant at least 2h before tasting.
- (Tasting note created by Tb's AI)
  • 96p
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Information

Origin

Magill, South Australia

Grapes

100% Shiraz

Vintage Quality

Average

Value For Money

Satisfactory

Ageing

  • in oak 100% for 1 years and 5 months

Investment potential

Below Average

Fake factory

None

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Penfolds Bin 51 Riesling

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Penfolds Bin 704 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Penfolds Bin 707

Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon

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Penfolds RWT

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QoN

Rawson's Retreat

Rawson's Retreat Bin 202 Riesling

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Reserve Bin 5A

Reserve Bin A

Reserve Bin A Adelaide Hills Chardonnay

RWT Shiraz

Special BIN 111A Shiraz

St Henri Shiraz

Thienot x Penfolds Blanc de Blancs Lot 2-175

Thienot x Penfolds Blanc de Noirs Lot 3-175

Thienot x Penfolds Brut Vintage Lot 1-175

Thomas Hyland Adelaide Hills Chardonnay

Thomas Hyland Sauvignon Blanc

'V' Chardonnay

Vintage Fortified

Yattarna Chardonnay

Inside Information

eParker / 2011 was of course a difficult, uncharacteristically rainy vintage in South Australia and particularly Barossa, but thanks to Penfolds’ privileged position with access to some of the region’s best fruit, they have nonetheless been able to blend an impressive Grange. Still sourced mainly from Barossa Valley, there’s a good dollop of McLaren Vale fruit (21%) – a region less affected by the rains in 2011 - contributing to this vintage. Interestingly, it is the 6th vintage ever to consist of 100% Shiraz, mainly because the Cabernet Sauvignon didn't make the grade this year. (Note that no Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon was produced in 2011.) Deep purple colored, in typical fashion the nose of the 2011 Grange is still closed at this youthful stage with broody tar and pepper laced notes over a core of blackberries, black plums, licorice and loam. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is taut and muscular with pepper and baking spice flavors supported by firm, grainy tannins. The finish has great length, contributing a refreshing lift.

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