Grange time

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I think I told you guys at our last meeting that we recently opened these two bottles of Grange at home for my Dad’s 70th birthday. One a 1992 vintage, the other a 1981 vintage.

We opened the 1981 Grange first, took some effort because of course the cork crumbled as soon as I tried to extract it, so we strained the cork fragments out and decanted it briefly (about 5-10 minutes). I wasn’t confident on this one and sadly it was well past its prime and not drinkable. A product of both age and dodgy storage over the years. Unless you’ve got a dedicated cellar it’s pretty hard to keep a wine for three decades.Penfolds grange

Next up, the 1992 Grange. Again issues with extracting the cork (I understand now the modern winemaker’s love of screwcaps) and we decanted it for half an hour before sampling. This one was enjoyable but didn’t live up to lofty expectations. Classic shiraz features came through, plenty of spicey pepper and plum with a hint of oak. It improved more on the second tasting about an hour later, but after sharing it around it didn’t last any longer in the decanter.

All up, a fun tasting session and a perfect occasion to uncork these two and share with the family. Not exactly bang for your buck when you consider how many great wines you could buy for the $500 sticker price of one of these but then you are buying a piece of the Penfolds Grange Legend. Which lives on…

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