Penfolds Grange Bin 95 2021

There will be higher than usual expectations associated with the 2021 Grange. It was undoubtedly a stellar vintage across South Australia noted as exceptional by many producers, no more so than in Grange’s pick of fruit from the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Clare Valley. Powerful yet elegant, finely structured but firm, the ’21 will particularly please those who prefer poise and style over brute force. Inky, dense, impenetrable.  Resolutely ripe in aromas of black fruits of every kind, dark bitter chocolate, liquorice blocks, ground coffee, dried earth, pan juices, tapenade and lifted violet aromatics. While it’s working on the kind of seamless harmony we come to expect with age, the richness of fruit and spices is joined by a layer of resinous oak and savoury notes of undergrowth, truffle. The addition of 6% Cabernet Sauvignon is slightly more (it’s a relative thing) than some previous Granges. Hard to tell its contribution but those tannins are impressively slatey and fine. Altogether, a Grange with less oomph and more fineness with an underlying power.