My revitalized Granges!

I attended the Penfolds re-corking clinic this past Wednesday and was it ever worth the inconvenience of carting my 11 bottles of 1981 Grange to the beautiful Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan!

To be assessed, bottles have to be at least 15 years old. Mine were filled to the bottom of the neck, which I found out is a very good time to consider a re-corking as once into the shoulder the potential markedly increases for the wine to go south. Chief Winemaker Peter Gago and Senior Red Winemaker Steve Lienert explained that since my bottles were candidates for being opened, I could have as many of the bottles opened as I wished and they would be assessed as to if they were or were not satisfactory examples of the wine. If they pass the test they get a label of certification by the winemaker on the back of the bottle, get topped off with the current vintage of the wine in question, in this case '07 Grange, get recorked, get a new foil, and finally they get wrapped up real nice in Penfolds paper! I don't remember exactly what happens if the wine flunks the test, except that in addition to one's obvious disappointment, it is not certified, and I think resealed with a plain cork...so your previously hopefully special and worth $300+ wine now becomes worthless! Adds to the suspense a bit! Luckily for me, as Steve sniffed and tasted through my bottles and discussed them with me, they all came up as certifiable!

I had kind of forgotten just how good Penfolds wines are, not to mention that there were quite a few that I was unfamiliar with. I got to taste as many as I wanted among them the '07 Grange, '09 707 Cabernet, '09 RWT, '08 St. Henri, and the Yattarne Chardonnay! I highly recommend the Penfolds recorking clinic to anyone who has older Penfolds wine and can get to one, it really was a blast.

My thanks to Peter, Steve, Lily, Tim, Ben, and the other Penfolds folks who were there, the nicest people you'd ever hope to meet in the wine industry! My interest in Penfolds wine has very much been rekindled!

I do not have any granges but I think your experience was real cool. I have 98s of several of the wines further listed down but I think they are more important to drink than recork.

Your post reminded me I have a few Granges in my cellar 2-77s, 2-81s, 2-82s. I was never really fond on how they tasted and I thought I would trade them for something more compatible to my palate. Anyone tasted these wines lately? I know that they are expensive but I haven't kept track of them in the market.

Very cool story.
The only Penfolds I used to regularly buy with the 389, but around 2000 stopped as prices jumped.
Lou, not a big Grange guy, but have had several blind in last couple years, don't generally love, but '82 was actually pretty balanced, and my fave of any I;ve had (OK, I guessed 1990 Bordeaux). Never had the 81, but 77 was good 8+ years ago. But that one is ++++expensive, for me it's not THAT good- trade!

Your post reminded me I have a few Granges in my cellar 2-77s, 2-81s, 2-82s. I was never really fond on how they tasted and I thought I would trade them for something more compatible to my palate. Anyone tasted these wines lately? I know that they are expensive but I haven't kept track of them in the market.

According to Wine Searcher Lou, those bottles retail between $400 and $700 each, depending on the vintage. I'm glad my post brought them to mind, a shame to hang on to them if you don't really care for the wine as they can bring back some impressive goodies tailored to your tastes! Have you ever tried the RWT and the 707? Much plusher and very different from the Grange. When I tried the '07 Grange at the clinic it obviously needed some serious age whereas the RWT & 707, while of course exceptionally age worthy, were gorgeous and would be very enjoyable now.

The only Penfolds I used to regularly buy with the 389, but around 2000 stopped as prices jumped.

I used to buy the 389 years back too Dale, now up around $50. I had a couple of bottles of the 1989 in my cellar that I popped last summer and I couldn't believe how good they were! Actually, at the clinic I asked one of the Penfolds folks if he felt that some of the more modestly priced offerings might still be agers and he told me yes, depending on the vintage. Be interesting to put a select few down for 10 years and see what happens.

Your post reminded me I have a few Granges in my cellar 2-77s, 2-81s, 2-82s. I was never really fond on how they tasted and I thought I would trade them for something more compatible to my palate. Anyone tasted these wines lately? I know that they are expensive but I haven't kept track of them in the market.

I was at a BYO Penfolds dinner featuring the current wine maker recently, and the '82 Grange (from my cellar) was the class of the night. The '72 apparently smelled very good (I have no sense of smell so I can't verify that) but the small sip I had (one small glass for the whole table) tasted somewhat over the hill (I can still taste, but not as well as I used to). The '97 was good, although didn't compare to the '98, which was on its way to being in the same league as the '82.