1983 Penfolds Grange

Community Tasting Notes (79) Avg Score: 94.7 points

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  3/16/2024 - Cremuel wrote: 94 Points

  Bob’s cellar. Only a brief note. Shared with friends over a dinner. Excellent as always. Feel this is going strong but not much room for improvement from here.

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  12/31/2023 - Cailles wrote: 95 Points

  20 Top Wines of the 1983 Vintage: Great bottles of the 1983 Grange can drink close to perfection these days. This bottle never fully got there. Upon opening it was closed and muted and even showed signs of age, with 6+ hours in the decanter it got better and better but never reached the absolute heights of the best bottle I’ve had a year ago (rated 99pts), which had a touch higher purity, weightlessness, and more pronounced pure, Chambolle-like red fruit. Still, this was an excellent bottle.
  
  TN: This Grange exhibits a vibrant array of aromas - intense and multi-layered from the nose, across the palate, to a prolonged, expansive finish. It offers a striking contrast to the 1983 Dominus/Opus, also tasted. The profile includes bright red berries, darker fruits, and an abundance of spices and herbs. It's the most mature 1983 Grange I've encountered, with aging notes seamlessly melded into the profusion of other scents. The structure is finely tannic, complemented by excellent freshness. Its texture is more velvet-like than satin, with substantial yet not overwhelming density and weight. The balance and harmony are impressive.
  
  Decanting: Extensive aeration is key - a minimum of 6-7 hours in a decanter brings out its full potential.

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  11/25/2023 - G_H wrote: 96 Points

  40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Plums, raspberries, spices, nice acidity. Very good but not one of the best examples.
  
  This needs extensive time in the decanter. I'd recommend 6+ hours.

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  11/25/2023 - sirpat00 wrote: 95 Points

  1983 vintage horizontal with >20 wines, mostly from Bordeaux. Key observations: 1/ Acceptable vintage for Champagne with DP over-delivering, 2/ Laville Haut Brion is a masterpiece among the whites, 3/ Bordeaux is going strong at 40 years of age with stand-outs Latour and Margaux. 4/ No need to chase any Napa’s from the vintage, 5/ off-piste Italians kept up impressively with Soldera an undisputed medalist.
  
  Tasting note:
  Decanted for 6h. Intense, sweet and sexy with Asian spice and gingerbread, black berry and bramble berry fruit. Juicy and well structured palate . Extremely enticing and another great bottle, but not quite at the stellar level like the previous one – I know there is even more possible with this one!

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  10/29/2023 - Cailles wrote: 94 Points

  A few observations: A) The wines undoubtedly deserve their legendary status. Few wines manage to square the circle of being intense, rich in substance and structure, while at the same time being ethereal, delicate and airy. B) The wines are all complex and very precise. With age (and/or air) the wines show a Rayas-like pure red berry fruit to die for. Other defining aromas are the minty/eucalyptus notes and especially the sweet spice I find in many Aussie Shirazes. C) The wines age at a glacial pace. Even the 40+ year old wines are still quite young and all will need a lot of decanting. D) All the wines were on a high level (except for one subpar bottle of the 2000). The winner was the magical 1982 (98pts), the epitome of elegance and balance.
  
  TN: I’ve had this several times before and with the right amount of air, this is an almost perfect wine. This bottle, not decanted, didn‘t get to the same heights. The nose was a bit muted and never fully opened up. The palate showed better, more open and showcased beautifully the wonderful red berry fruit core with fine strawberries and red currant, with some additional minty and earthy notes. With time it got more complex and precise. The structural frame was impeccable with ultra fine tannins, good tension and freshness, an airy texture. Superb balance. Sadly we only got a glimpse of what is possible.
  
  Decanting: All wines were quickly double decanted 3h before the tasting. In my experience Grange usually needs hours of proper decanting. I would decant this vintage for at least 6-7 hours. This would have helped here.

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