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g5 NV (10's)

Penfolds , South Australia, Australia

Penfolds
South Australia Australia
  • 99
    Points
  • The 376 best
    of 3 290 954
    wines globally
  • 14 Pros of
    15 recommend
    this wine
13 99
  • Taste
  • Moment

  • Country ranking ?

    9

  • Producer ranking ?

    7

  • Decanting time

    4h

  • When to drink

    from 2030

  • Food Pairing

    Lamb

Food Pairing

Lamb

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The Story

Released in late 2021, Grange G5 is the ultimate expression in Penfolds' rare multi-vintage Grange series. Blending five exceptional Grange vintages spanning two decades—2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018—G5 represents the pinnacle of Penfolds' house style, combining youthful energy with mature, seamless depth.

Key Highlights

  • Full Name: Penfolds Grange G5

  • Vintages Blended: 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018

  • Region: Mult...

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

14 tasting notes

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Written Notes

There are 2,200 bottles at a price of AUD$3,500 each. This time, the blend constitutes 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 Granges with both 2016 and 2018 in barrel when selected and the others transversage (taking the wine from full bottles of Grange for blending). 

What I found interesting was that over the three G wines, eight different vintages of Grange were used, with four vintages – 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2016 – appearing twice. And yet, not a single odd year made the cut. It may mean nothing or it might suggest that buying your Penfolds from even years is the go. 

Grange is always heavily dominant Shiraz but usually with a little Cabernet. G5 has three percent Cabernet Sauvignon. Grange is also a multiregional blend with Barossa crucial. G5 is 70 percent Barossa, the rest McLaren Vale and Clare Valley with a splash of Wrattonbully thanks to the 2014. To create G5, many combinations were tried on the tasting bench before Gago’s team settled on the blend (note that we are never told exact percentages as Penfolds is not keen to have someone attempting to recreate the wine on the kitchen table, but each vintage does contribute at least 10 percent). It then spent 12 months in neutral American oak hogsheads originally used for the 2016 and 2018 Granges. G5 was bottled in April 2020. 

The wine is dark maroon, but it really does demand time to open up. Then expect a cornucopia of flavors on the wonderfully complex nose – dark berries, cocoa powder, sage, a slightly dusty sawdust note, cloves, chocolate cake, florals, and cassis. Seamless and powerful, immaculately balanced, this is refined and offering extraordinary length. A new array of flavors emerge on the palate: coffee bean, new leather, beef stock, soy, black fruits, and aniseed. 100. It deserves no less.

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  • 100p

The third and final release in Penfolds' experimental "g" series (following g3 and g4), g5 represents the ultimate expression of cross-vintage blending—applying Champagne and fortified winemaking philosophies to Penfolds' crown jewel, Grange. Chief Winemaker Peter Gago blended five benchmark Grange vintages spanning eight years (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018), with each vintage contributing at least 10% to the final blend. Only 2,200 bottles were produced.


 97% Shiraz, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon (70% Barossa Valley, balance McLaren Vale and Clare Valley with a touch of Wrattonbully); a blend of the 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 Grange vintages. Aged for 18 months in seasoned American oak hogsheads previously used for the 2016 and 2018 Granges.


 By weaving together five distinct years of Grange, Penfolds created a wine where primary fruit energy, mature savory complexity, and structural grandeur coexist simultaneously. The 2010 and 2012 components lend deep primary structure and dark fruit weight, 2014 adds cool-season spice, while 2016 and 2018 provide soaring aromatics, pristine acidity, and sheer persistence.


 The nose opens with immense concentration and shifting layers—bursting with saturated blackberry, black plum compote, violet pastille, and star anise, expanding into dark cocoa powder, roasted coffee bean, sandalwood, and sweet American oak dill. On the palate, it delivers a seamless, weightless glide across the tongue. A dense, compacted core of black fruit is laced with umami notes of soy, leather, and ironstone, driven by vibrant natural energy and held together by pixelated, ultra-fine tannins that extend into an endlessly lingering finish.


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  • 99p

Ruby. Rich, intense, dense, blackberries and spices, fruit driven, layered, minty, blueberries, stunning nose. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, blackberries, spices, liquorice, detailed, nuanced, long, finesse yet rich, goes on and on. 98

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  • 98p

Glorious aromas of blackberry, spice, tile and toasted wood that move into sandalwood, violet and rose petal, then cloves and nutmeg, before revealing a cappuccino and cream undertone. Full-bodied yet very tight and compacted with a dense center palate that is still agile and energetic. Tightly wound and compressed. Great complexity. Waiting to open and unravel in the bottle. It builds on the palate with such fine tannins that perfectly integrate. 97% shiraz and 3% cabernet sauvignon, with 70% from Barossa Valley, the rest from McLaren Vale and Claire Valley with small percentages from other sources. Multi-vintage blend: 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018. 2,200 bottles produced. Drink this after 2021 and onwards but already an ethereal wine!

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  • 100p

Penfolds G5, Released on 1 November, final one of the 'g' trio. 2,200 bottles made. 2018 and 2016 (blended out of barrel), plus 2014, 2012 and 2010 (blended out of bottle). 70% Barossa. 97% Shiraz, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon. Finished in used oak.
Opened ten hours earlier. Intoxicating oak scent – drenched with coconut and vanilla. Lusciously fruited, of course, with a few degrees more subtlety than the Grange 2017. Brambles from start to finish, with not a thorn in sight. It is a marvel of blending, without any peppery character, but all the richness and history of Barossa Shiraz. Finishes with black liquorice.

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  • 95.5p

Penfolds G5 / Retaining 100% Grange DNA”, Penfolds G5 takes Max Schubert’s ethereal and buoyant masterpiece into another world of expression. It is not only a multi-district blend, but a composite of multi-district blends from five different vintages (2018,2016, 2014, 2012 & 2010). Although the concept is straightforward, the sequence of numbers and possibilities are infinitesimal. Paraphrasing the Oxford don and mathematician GH Hardy - a winemaker, like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns. With exquisite material, the blending process can stretch a wine towards infinity. Few winemakers ever get the chance to make a wine of this type. Only back-blending of reserve vintages and the solera system, used for fortified winemaking, are widely practiced to achieve similar results. But G5 is a blend of extraordinarily high calibre Grange vintages, some already released. For instance, 2010 Grange was described as “the Grange of the Millennium, but 10 years too late”. The 2018 Grange, on the other hand was drawn from barrel. Rather than being the sum of its parts, G5 evokes a rare experience of completeness. It is the full tote odds Grange style with a magical cloak that defies and embraces age. This leads to remarkable freshness, complexity and maturity.

The G5 is released on the 70th anniversary of Penfolds Grange. By coincidence it also comprises 70% Barossa fruit. The addition of 18,16,14, 12 and 10 also make up 70. Chief winemaker Peter Gago AC, a former mathematics teacher, delights in these disappearing numbers and the risks in making a composite Grange. This is the last of a series (G3, G4 & G5) but highlights the remarkable resources and skills of the Penfolds winemaking team.Asides from the technical challenges, G5 tilts at history and invokes reaction. The AUD $3500 price tag may seem steep to many, including myself, but First Growth Bordeaux and Grand Cru Burgundy command hefty outlays as well. G5 is polarising but extraordinary.

Deep crimson. Intense dark chocolate, liquorice, marzipan, blackberry, blackcurrant, grilled-nut aromas with shellac, waxy notes. Extraordinarily smooth, polished and velvety with inky deep blackberry, dark chocolate, espresso flavours, plentiful fine supple/ chocolaty tannins, attractive mid-palate richness, underlying roasted chestnut, marzipan, spicy notes and beautiful mineral length. Everything is perfectly balanced and integrated. Amazingly ready to drink showing “grand reserve” maturity, superb generosity and exuberant freshness. A curiosity, a classic and a conundrum all wrapped in the Grange aesthetic. The Art of the Blend. Drink now until another fifty years at least. Remarkable. 14.5% alc 100 points

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  • 100p
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Information

Origin

Magill, South Australia

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