x
  • Country ranking ?

    40
  • Producer ranking ?

    21
  • Decanting time

    4h
  • When to drink

    from 2030
  • Food Pairing

    Lamb

Food Pairing

Lamb

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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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 cons...

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Vintage 2021

2021 Barossa Valley Vintage Report

Following two particularly dry seasons, many were hoping for Mother Nature to be much kinder, and mostly she was. Winter rainfall in 2020 recorded 148mm, the same as winter 2019, (22% below average). The majority of this rainfall was in the latter half of August, with the rain continuing into September and October. This was ideal timing to replenish soil profiles to field capacity moving into budburst in O...

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Tasting note

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Written Notes

The 2021 season in South Australia was widely regarded as exceptional—cooler, even, and slow-ripening, with long hang time that preserved natural acidity and aromatic purity. Mild conditions throughout harvest allowed for perfect phenolic maturity, resulting in wines of remarkable balance, precision, and depth. For Grange, 2021 is a vintage of clarity, power, and structural finesse, reminiscent of the great years that balance richness with tension.


The 2021 Penfolds Grange is a stunning young Grange—densely layered yet exceptionally poised, showing the depth and intricacy that only the finest vintages achieve. The nose is powerful but beautifully nuanced, opening with blackberry liqueur, mulberry, and dark plum, followed by complex notes of crushed violets, black olive tapenade, balsamic, and smoked charcuterie. Hints of licorice, baking spices, cocoa dust, and toasted American oak add both sweetness and savor.

On the palate, the wine is monumental yet impeccably balanced. A core of concentrated black fruit—cassis, blackberry, and blueberry coulis—is wrapped in firm, velvety tannins and supported by a vibrant line of acidity that gives lift and energy. The trademark Grange richness is present, but in 2021 it’s delivered with more precision and minerality than sheer weight. Nuances of dark chocolate, cured meat, incense, and warm earth emerge as the wine expands, leading to a long, resonant, smoky finish marked by spice and iron.

This is a thrilling Grange, combining youthful opulence with structural refinement—a benchmark wine from an exceptional vintage. Accessible with extended aeration, but its true glory lies ahead. Cellar with confidence for 40+ years, where it will evolve into extraordinary complexity and depth.


  • 98p

Always the focus of the Collection, especially so when it hails from what has become a legendary vintage. The expectations for the 2021 Grange, were simply that this had to be a great Grange. Anything short of that might even be deemed a failure and this is indeed an extraordinary Grange. Quite simply, a wow wine. As always, a variety of regions contributed – the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Clare Valley. As is usual, though not inevitable, there is a dollop of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, 6% for 2021, and the wine spent a year and a half maturing in new American hogsheads. No wonder Peter Gago’s response was a face-splitting smile and to confirm he was “very, very pleased”. 

Maroon/black in hue, one simply gets lost in the nose, just endlessly sniffing the most glorious cassis notes, along with black fruits, blueberries, coffee beans, aniseed, mulberries, delicatessen meats, tobacco leaves, plums and graphite. The wine is seamless, intense and immaculate with knife-edge balance. It simply dances with joy. There oak is there, undeniably, but it is so well handled that you almost have to think twice. So complex already, and yet so harmonious and decadent. Silky tannins, bright acidity, the intensity never wavers for an instant and there is incredible length – Rutherglen muscat length. This is as close to a perfect Grange as I can imagine. Fifty years, if you think you can last that long (or want very grateful grandkids). A Lord-take-me-now wine, if ever there was one. 100.


  • 100p

Deep crimson. Very expressive blackberry, praline, roasted hazelnut, espresso crème brulée aromas with lifted Indian spice/ balsamic notes. Deeply concentrated blackberry, dark chocolate flavours, lovely mid-palate volume, plentiful fine chalky/ al dente tannins and well-balanced roasted chestnut, mocha, roasted coffee notes. Finishes gravelly with superb choco-berry fruits. A beautifully modulated claret-style harking back to the original blueprint. Should develop into a classic Grange. Drink 2030 – 2060

  • 98p
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Information

Origin

Magill, South Australia

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