Penfolds Grange 2017
- 97
- $950
- Drink by: 2024 - 2050
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Only the 7th Grange ever to be 100% Shiraz, in 70 years. 18 months in 100% new American hogsheads. The fruit is sourced just from the Barossa and McLaren Vale. An inky opaqueness. Immediately obvious that this wine has that Grange DNA. Powerful oak notes, but integrating well. Coffee beans, soy, vanillin characters, spices, chocolate, bergamot and what seems to be the merest hint of orange rind in the oak. The fruit remains warm and welcoming. Black fruits, beefstock and some ripe raspberries. Real power here but it is seamless, balanced and very long. Good acidity. A lot of tannin – it may seem unobtrusive but it is there. The texture is delightfully supple. For me, this does not exbibit the finesse and focus seen in the very best Granges but it is certainly an extremely fine wine. Certainly a long life ahead of it, though perhaps not quite as long as some vintages. With time in the glass, more red fruits emerged.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
