Penfolds Grange 1999
Grange is both Penfolds' and arguably Australia's most famous wine and is officially listed as a Heritage Icon of South Australia. Grange boasts an unbroken line of vintages from the experimental 1951 and clearly demonstrates the synergy between Shiraz and the soils and climate of South Australia. Penfolds Grange displays fully-ripe, intensely-flavoured and textured Shiraz grapes in combination with new American oak. The result is a unique Australian style that is now recognised as the most consistent of the world's great wines. The Grange style is the original and most powerful expression of Penfolds' multivineyard, multi-district blending philosophy. The first 100% shiraz Grange since 1963, and an excellent follow on to the 1998 vintage.
Critical Acclaim
94 Wine Spectator
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.
92 James Suckling
This is a dense elixir, at its optimal drinking window. Notes of matcha, chashu and minty liniment. Almost port-like with incense and further aromas of the Chinese medicine cabinet across the finish. Large-framed and sweet, yet attractively herbal and souk-like exotic, mitigating any sense of excess. Not the greatest Grange, but a rich, medicinal expression with a winning, eccentric personality.
92 Wine Advocate
Dense ruby/purple to the edge, with a bouquet of blackberries, mulberries, and floral-like aromas, and medium to full body, the 1999 has an acid punch, but also tremendous layers of fruit and extract. Not massive, but elegant and nicely layered.
