Penfold's 'Grange' Shiraz - $242.99

Wine Details

Vintage: 2000
Price: $242.99
Producer: Penfolds Wines
Region: South Australia
Varietal: Syrah / Shiraz
Container Size: 750 ML
Flavors: black currant
  • Award Winning
  • Red Wine
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Product Description

  • Dark and liqueur chocolate, laced with Moroccan spices. An underlying tar/graphite blackness is lifted by derived fruit/quince pie flavours - a few years earlier they may have been more brashly varietal and elemental. Pronounced tannins sweep across the palate, although they are certainly part of the wine, never obtrusive. Long, layered and compelling, this wine is at the spicier end of the Grange spectrum.
  • Penfolds is an Australian wine producer, founded in 1844 by Dr. Christopher Rawson Penfold, an English physician who emigrated to Australia. It is one of Australia’‘s oldest wineries. Penfold was a believer in the medicinal benefits of wine and before emigrating to Australia, obtained some vine cuttings from France. Arriving in Australia, he set up in practice at Magill on the eastern outskirts of Adelaide, South Australia and planted vines around his stone cottage which he called The Grange after his wife, Mary’‘s, former home. Initially, Penfold produced fortified wines, for his patients in the style of sherry and port. As demand for the wines increased the winery was expanded. Mary Penfold assumed the running of the winery after the death of her husband in 1870. After Mary retired in 1884 her daughter Georgina and son-in-law Thomas Hyland took over the day to day running of the winery. The Penfold family continued to operate the business very successfully and although the company became public in 1962 the Penfold family remained in control until 1976. During the 1940’‘s and 1950’‘s the company changed its focus to table wines to accommodate changing tastes. This led to experiments by Penfolds’‘ chief winemaker, Max Schubert which would eventually lead to the production of Penfolds’‘ and Australia’‘s most famous wine, Grange Hermitage, later renamed simply Grange. Control of Penfolds passed to Tooth & Co, a brewer based in New South Wales in 1976, to the Adelaide Steamship Co in 1982 and then in 1990 to S.A.Brewing which became part of Southcorp, an Australian conglomerate. Since 2005, the Southcorp wine brands and wineries have been owned by the Foster’‘s Group. Penfolds currently operates two wineries; at Magill, near Adelaide and at Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley.

Expert Ratings

Ratings   Vintage Source Flavors
Tanzer - 94(+?) Details: ($250) Ruby-red. Initially closed on the nose but aeration brings a complicated bouquet of raspberry, wild strawberry, creme de mure, sexy oak spices, woodsmoke, tobacco, vanilla and fresh flowers. A deep, sweet but precise midweight, with energetic flavors of red and dark berries, cherry compote, cinnamon, mocha and smoked meat, all wrapped in substantial but silky tannins. Sappy and expansive on the impressively long, velvety finish. You'd be nuts to open this any time soon. 2002 Tanzer cherry, cinnamon, dark berries, flowers, meat, mocha, nuts, oak, raspberry, spices, strawberry, tobacco, vanilla
Tanzer - 94 Details: ($295) Inky violet with a bright rim. Explosive and utterly captivating on the nose, offering a range of aromas that encompasses red and darker berries, flowers, cigar box, minerals and sexy oak spices. Quite broad on the palate, and packing a real punch to its flavors of cassis, boysenberry, candied plum, bitter chocolate and fruitcake. Serious, harmonious tannins give plenty of structural support. This expands and grows even sweeter with aeration, finishing with outstanding persistence. Oak spices add sex appeal. A superb Grange. 2001 Tanzer
WineSpectator - 93 Details: Deep, rich and concentrated, this one has a gamy note that sneaks through the rich blackberry, plum and licorice flavors, hinting at coffee, dark chocolate and spice as the finish lingers beautifully. Grippy tannins keep it from taking off. Not as harmonious and complete as other vintages, but it's a solid Grange. Best after 2009. 2,000 cases imported. –HS 2001 WineSpectator berries, bitter, boysenberry, candied, cassis, chocolate, flowers, minerals, oak, plum, spices, violet
WineEnthusiast - 93 Details: Not great by Grange standards, but still a fabulous wine, the 2001 Grange boasts an intoxicating, heady bouquet of rich chocolate and coconut. It follows that up with deep, plummy fruit that’s full-bodied and lush yet quite tannic, promising decades of ageability. Despite the dark chocolate and plum flavors, the wine is still fresh, with a long finish. Drink 2010–2025. 2001 WineEnthusiast chocolate, coconut, dark chocolate, plum, plummy
WineAndSpirits - 96 Details: Grange is often an explosion on release, and this '01 does not want for intensity. This vintage is unusual, as it's all from Barossa fruit; what's more unusual is that its subtlety and grace make it surprisingly approachable as a young wine. The power of old-vine fruit is there in the color, black and concentrated at the core, deep red at the edge. It's also there in the complex aromatics, layered in earthy tannins. Those beautiful tannins drive the wine, releasing a quiet blast of black fruit that evolves for over a minute as it lasts past each taste. The wine just doesn't let go, and is as mouthwatering as the sizzle on a steak. Grange will often thrive for 20 years from the vintage, the best vintages lasting longer. 2001 WineAndSpirits black fruit, earthy
Tanzer - 89 Details: ($225) Dark red. Pungent floral aromas along with suggestions of bitter cherry, chocolate, saddle leather and dried thyme on the nose. A medium-bodied, moderately concentrated Grange with a juicy quality, displaying sappy but dry flavors of cherry, red plum, anise and lavender. The finish begins plump and lingers impressively, but the tannins are slightly dry. 2000 Tanzer anise, bitter, cherry, chocolate, lavender, leather, red plum
WineSpectator - 89 Details: Firm and chewy, with a gamy note running through the earthy, spicy finish. Has intensity and persistence but the flavor profile is not attractive at this point. Should soften with time. Best after 2008. 700 cases imported. –HS 2000 WineSpectator earthy, gamy, spicy
WineAndSpirits - 93 Details: Penfolds pulled off a meaty vintage of Grange in 2000: 100 percent shiraz from Barossa Valley. The year was marked by an extremely hot, dry spell from January until March, and the resulting wine is so dense with extract that the stony tannin doesn't mitigate the thickness until tasted again a day later. By then, air has brought up the exotic spice of the tannin, and given a mineral lift to the dark, resinous fruit. This will need years to sort itself out, but it looks to be a sleek vintage of Grange when it does, probably by 2010 or '12. 2000 WineAndSpirits meaty, mineral, resinous, spice, stony
WineEnthusiast - 90 Details: The nose offers date and cassis notes, while the palate deals more cassis, plus raspberry, earth and oak as it opens. Its flavors are juicy, and its tannins, delicate and textured (one reviewer actually likened it to a Rhône wine). Not as full, powerful or overwhelming as the wine can be, but enjoyable nonetheless. Drink through 2012. Imported by Southcorp Wines. 2000 WineEnthusiast cassis, earth, oak, raspberry
WineSpectator - 94 Details: Not quite as broad and generous as riper vintages, but tremendously classy, offering smoky, earthy blackberry, plum and currant fruit that compete effectively against cedary oak on the long finish. The flavors gain with each sip, fanning out impressively. It's tight now, but it could age beautifully. Best after 2009. 8,000 cases made. –HS 1999 WineSpectator blackberry, currant, earthy, oak, plum, smoky
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Food Pairings

Category Pairing
Red Meat Beef, Pork, Grilled or Roast Leg, Grilled or Broiled Chops or Rack of Lamb, Game, Farmed Venison, Buffalo, Grilled Sausage
Poultry & Eggs Duck Confit
Vegetables Wild Mushrooms, Wild Mushroom Strudel
Fish or Shellfish Salmon / Trout, Bluefish and Mackerel, Tuna, Mahi-Mahi
Sauces Red Wine Sauce
Herbs & Spices Juniper

Awards and Accolades

  Name Vintage
Award Winner 100 Best Wines - 2008 - Wine & Spirits  

Wine Terms

Name Value
Australia In the past few decades Australia’s wine industry has transformed itself into one of the most technologically advanced in the world. A combination of a generally warm, dry climate and a cultural affinity for creating, rather than following, tradition has resulted in wines that are soft and pleasant to drink from an early age. They are the epitome of user-friendliness. Australia’s wine regions are mainly in the southern, cooler part of the country, clustered mainly in the state of Victoria, the southern part of South Australia and the cooler parts of New South Wales. Syrah, or Shiraz as it is known there, is the top grape, followed by Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Riesling, and Semillon. The wines are generally listed with the name of their grape variety, which must constitute at least 85 percent of the wine. Although Australia’s winemaking region is vast, most labels indicate only that their contents come from South Eastern Australia. Flavor is indicated by the variety of grape used to make the wine. Australia’s classification system is generally lax when it comes to quality and labeling. Some bottles indicate a specific state of origin (New South Wales, Victoria, or South Australia), or a region within a state, but these smaller zones are still being decided.
Syrah Originally grown in France’s Northern Rhône Valley (where it is a noble variety) this grape has spread to Australia, California, Washington, Italy and Spain. In the Rhone region this grape produces deeply colored wines with full body and firm tannin, however in Australia, where it is known as Shiraz, the wines are lighter and fruitier. Aromas and flavors for these wines vary as much as their geographical breadth suggests: berries, smoked meat, bell peppers, even tar.
Shiraz Australian name for the grape known as Syrah in France.
Australia/New Zealand Besides producing Mel Gibson, this region can also produce some pretty intense wine. Australia has become the fourth largest wine export in the world. Australian labels are strictly labeled depending where the grapes where grown to make the wine. In New Zealand the sea moderates the weather producing cooler summers and milder winters. The effect of consistently cool nights is to produce fruit which is nearly always high in acidity.

Tasting Notes

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