Wine Focus February 2022 - Syrah & Open that Bottle Night(s)

Wow, Penfold's Grange!! and 1990!

I remember when Grange was a bit more expensive but not overly so, but not buying because I could get other Aussie Shirazs a bit cheaper. If only......

I also remember when it was Penfold's Grange Hermitage.......

I, too, remember when it was Grange Hermitage. Both the US and Australia eventually reached agreement with the EU to stop poaching controlled place names for agricultural products. Terms such as "Rhine wine" disappeared from the US market. But there was a grandfather clause in place that allowed existing products to continue to be marketed using the poached names. "Gallo Hearty Burgundy" (a generic red wine) is one of the few examples still left.

I don't think Australia had a grandfather clause in place when they banned use of EU controlled place names. There was one producer of Australian "Burgundy" who got around the regulations by changing the wine's name to "urgundy".

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

Got a two-fer for you: An OPB Syrah, of the most major sort. Before opening this I checked its current auction value: $588. Big gulp. Should I or shouldn't I? I can easily dispatch it for auction, wherein the price obtained might be more exciting than drinking the wine itself...it would just be Bob and I, no one to impress. I hemmed and hawed all day about it and finally gave in.

1990 Penfolds Grange South Australia Shiraz Blend
Our last one, purchased on release in Anchorage, Alaska for $102. Ullage into the neck. Cork, shorter than expected, slides out easily, almost scary easily, with an Ah-So, but pristeen. Decanted, some sediment. Fantastic garnet color, no bricking. On the nose, that unmistakable malted/vanilla thing that only Aussie shirazes have (and I'm not crazy about) which carries through to plummy palate fruit. Amazing depth, but surprisingly no tertiary notes and in fact not a lot of secondary layers. It's young but it's not, it's old but it's not--blind, you'd never mistake it for a young wine but you'd never guess it's age. No decline whatsoever over the two hours we drank it.

So should I have sent it to auction? Yes. And it's not that we didn't enjoy it, we did. But I could have spent $600 on three-four bottles of things I'd enjoy more. I have a '91--not worth as much as the '90, but hammertime here we come.

Seller's premium will eat into that $600. Likely you will net about $400-$450.

[Jenise]

David, I know that. I've sent things to auction before. What really pushed me over the edge to open this, though, was watching a bit of Ukraine news while I was doing the early dinner prep. Feelings of YOLO rushed over me and there went the cork.