Community Tasting Note

Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - Had to go 100 pts on this one as after 1,525 tasting notes on CT since 3/24/06 I have not had a better wine. Debated giving it 99 but this wine had no flaws so how can I not score it perfect? Of course it was my first and only Grange so possibly the '98 or '04 would have rated higher if I had the privilege to taste such vintages but alas this was all my modest cellar contained.

I had sourced this on 6/1/05 for a bargain $165 and when I tagged it I wrote "for Retirement" on the bottle not quite knowing at that time when the day would come and stuffed it away in the wine cooler. Fast forward 10 years and a month and retirement day has arrived. Walked out after 30+ years without my laptop and company phone and I could have floated across the parking lot!

I knew this needed a serious decant so opened it at 3pm and tried a first sip and the tannins let themselves be known so into the decanter it went. Finally around 6:30 time for the first pour with my wife into our Riedel glasses and a joyous clink of the glasses on the deck. Color was a dark crimson with some bricking in the color, very unlike young Aussie' Shriaz. Swirling brought out aromas of cigar box, forest, dried fruit. First sip was mouth coating with cranberries, earthy notes, allspice.
After we got to "know" the wine it exhibited many personalities. A times it had the elegance of an aged Bordeaux, other times it had the power of a Napa Cab. Kind of odd was that it never had the extracted Shiraz flavor found in many wines from down under. No this was all about class and balance. The finish would go on and on for 50-60 seconds (that was a benefit as it made every sip last and slowed down the consumption of this marvelous wine)! Paired it with prime filet and fresh corn and baked potato, the perfect accompaniment for this bottle.
I told my wife that it would have been awesome if I had a bigger wine budget in 2005 and bought all 3 bottles my local wine shop had because it would be fascinating to try this one in 5 then 10 years. You could just tell it had the stuffing to last. A remarkable wine on a remarkable day in our lives. Cheers!

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7 comments have been posted

Comment posted by MC2 Wines:

7/1/2015 8:23:00 AM - Many congrats! I can't think of a better wine to celebrate such a momentous occasion with than a Grange.
Comment posted by chatters:

7/1/2015 2:07:00 PM - what a great tasting note Arch57, thanks and the heartiest of congratulations on your retirement, cheers, chatters
Comment posted by graemeg:

7/2/2015 10:33:00 PM - Congrats, and a suitably enthusiastic note. Corked or really-poorly-stored bottles apart, it's vary rare to be disappointed by Grange. And I say this after tasting from 40+ examples from the 70s to early-00s. GG
Comment posted by iswordsius:

12/24/2015 3:53:00 PM - Great comments. Hmmm....makes me think I should hang onto my only bottle for retirement... Unfortunately it's 20 years away.
Comment posted by Arch57:

12/24/2015 8:53:00 PM - Grange is legendary for it's longevity but don't know if I would hold my only bottle for twenty more years not because I don't think the wine would hold up that long but the saying "life is too short" comes to mind. Pick an occasion and enjoy and be sure to share your tasting note with the community. Cheers.
Comment posted by Collector1855:

9/16/2016 7:10:00 PM - What a way to celebrate retirement, well done. Memorable wines must be drunk at memorable times! I still have 15 years to go but your note triggered an idea for my retirement.
Comment posted by Arch57:

9/16/2016 7:36:00 PM - Collector1855 - The '96 Grange will likely still be going strong in 15 years!
Cheers.