April 16, 2024 - dark red with brick hue. intense in nose: ripe dark fruits, mixed spices, vanilla and cedar. many tertiary flavours, leather, smoke and earth, with a concentrated fruity core. all integrated, well polished, fine grained tannins, generally supple but still a little firm. dark herbal and espresso in finish, lingering long. and just started stepping down from its peak.
Ap 5/5, Ar 14/15, Palate 17/20, Overall 5+4/10
Total 95/100
March 22, 2024 - Balanced. I've seen many reviews that highlight the warm vintage, and this is definitely evident but the wine is not 'cooked'. The fruit profile is very good, and the balance is excellent. The quality of the fruit and the winemaking is so evident. I'm not convinced it is worth the price premium - and wouldn't buy more Grange now, but it is a very good wine. There is no sign of ageing - so another 20 years? I am not a Grange expert so don't listen to me. I have 1 more bottle - perhaps in 10 years?
December 24, 2023 - Happy 18th Ruby. Plum berries with a hint of chocolate
October 27, 2022 - Johna thought this bottle was cooked, but Roache and I thought it had great notes of chocolate, vanilla and baking spices
May 5, 2022 - DP retuned and got 499
December 10, 2021 - Delicious. A lovely wine. Much better than anticipated after the reviews I had read and drinking really well now.
November 26, 2021 - Big wine. Great fruit. Fresh. Very good. Hint of menthol. But just a baby. Needs ten more years.
November 3, 2021 - Like some of the other reviews I found this to be a very bad representation of penfolds grange. I own 82,91,98,05,12,13,14 and 16. I’m a huge fan of this wine. This 05 was prunie, oxidized and boring. Not worthy of this label. Note the bottle was in perfect shape with a perfect cork and level. Unfortunately I still have 3 bottles to have to work through to hope is bottle variation.
April 19, 2021 - Beautiful dark red color. Great nose with lots of intense dark berries, some plum, black coffee and tobacco. On the palate very intense dark fruit aromas too. Some licorice, black pepper, and nice eucalyptus in the background. It’s full bodied with a medium acidity but it’s not jammy or overdone in any way. Firm but velvety tannins. Absolutely amazing depth and complexity. It’s not elegant but not too pushy either. Beautiful long finish.
With a little air (1-2 hours) this is already in a great drinking spot but there is no need to hurry, it will stay beautiful over at least the next 10-15 years, probably longer. (IG)
March 6, 2021 - Opened for 15 min, then decanted for 2 hours and back into the bottle for consumption at dinner 2 hours later.
We tasted it before going in the decanter, it was horrible, tannic and tart. When we arrived at the restaurant I poured all 6 glasses to give it more air exposure, despite the wine didn’t changed much throughout the night it was very intriguing, complex and lively. My friends described it as port, prune, licorice on the nose, leather, moca, berries and firm tannins in the palate. Some said Napa Cabernet, and Napa Cab/Cab Franc blend. Years 2010-2012...
As you can tell they were tasting it blind, all wrong but accurate in the description!
For me this wine should be held at least 5 more years, or give it about 2 hours decant and consume 12-24 hours later. Obviously not worth $500.
95+ in my book.