2020 Penfolds, Grange, Bin 95, Australia
Critics reviews
The 2019 Grange was released through the Place in March, and it is followed up just six months later by the 2020, reminding us all once again that this is just a great addition to the international wines coming out through the Bordeaux system. Seductive, smoky, pure distilled blackcurrant and crushed blueberries, dill, black tea, raspberry leaf, violet. Just a gorgeous wine, with presence and character, hard to argue with. Peter Gago chief winemaker. Tom King director. 100% new American oak for ageing.
Drink 2028 - 2040
Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com (July 2024)
Full bottle 1,531 g. 97% Shiraz, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon. Peter Gago’s notes, reminding us of the effect of 2020 fires on crop levels: ‘No Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon released in 2020. No Bin 169 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. Redeemingly, Grange will convincingly justify the dexterity of South Australian Shiraz in this 2020 vintage. Two decades into the new millennium. Penfolds 180th anniversary year. Following stellar Grange vintages of 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2018. No pressure. And, no Magill Estate Shiraz inclusion in this 2020 blend.’ 48% McLaren Vale, 40% Barossa Valley, 12% Clare Valley. 20 months in all-new American-oak hogsheads.
Blackish dense purple. Lightly muted nose promising something pretty exciting underneath. Very rich and heady. But lower key than many vintages. Blackcurrant and quite a bit of dry tannin on the end. Still very tight and cough-medicinal. Extremely youthful. Retasted after a couple of days in a stoppered decanter: heady nose recalls creosote and top notes of luscious mulberries. The palate has opened out to something almost fat, finishing with an appetisingly saline edge. Very persistent. After five days in a stoppered decanter: this was a supple pleasure to drink. Aeration recommended for at least the first two decades of this exceptional wine’s life.
Drink 2030 - 2060
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (June 2024)
The 2020 Grange comprises 97% Shiraz and the balance Cabernet Sauvignon from McLaren Vale (48%), Barossa Valley (40%) and Clare Valley (12%), and it matured for 20 months in American oak hogsheads, 100% new. While the metric of regions changes each season and the proportion of Shiraz changes slightly, the élevage and style remain the same. Aromatically, the wine is black and savory, with crushed ant, black peppercorn, blueberry, blackberry and licorice/aniseed. In the mouth, the wine feels lighter than some other vintages on release. There is something like clarity and perhaps a little hole in the mid-palate—it sits like clarity or less density and also features as breathing space. A nice wine, it is lighter than the preceding 2019. Both vintages had their challenges, but this 2020 season has yielded an "easier" feeling wine.
Drink 2024 - 2050
Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate (July 2024)
97% Shiraz; 3% Cabernet Sauvignon
Blackberry, blueberry, graphite and terra cotta aromas. Medium-bodied with clarity, focus and very fine tannins that are polished and caressing. One of the most refined and textural Granges I have had in a long time. The tannins are very resolved. This is mostly Barossa and McLaren Vale with some Claire Valley.
Very drinkable now, but will age beautifully.
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (Augsut 2024)
The celebrated reputation of Grange places every new release under intense scrutiny, and this passes muster as sturdy and convincing, but without the stellar fireworks of 2019 or the instantaneous drink-now temptation of many from the past decade. Coming from the low-yielding 2020 vintage, a broad net was cast across McLaren Vale, Barossa and Clare to find the right mix of fruit parcels showing both concentration and complexity. With the modest addition of 3% Cabernet Sauvignon (noting that Penfolds did not release its elite Bin 707 and Bin 129 Cabernets from the 2020 vintage), this pulls tight focus on Shiraz’s primary allure – blackberry and black plum rinsed in rich mocha and dark chocolate, piqued by a dusting of cinnamon, pepper and vanilla. This is made to be cellared, and will tell a more exuberant story in another decade.
Drink 2024 - 2055
David Sly, Decanter (July 2024)
This dense and brooding 2020 Shiraz Grange has all the elements for a long life with impressive levels of extract and tannins, but lacking the delicacy of a great vintage. It opens up with waves of tarry, licorice and cola aromas against a backdrop of firm, unyielding oak. Muscular, chalky tannins provide a strong frame to waves of blackberry flavor which build toward a drying finish. A couple more years in the cellar will bring all the pieces together before a two-decade drinking window.
Drink 2030 - 2050
Angus Hughson, Vinous.com (July 2024)
About this WINE
Penfolds
Penfolds enjoys an iconic status that few New World producers have achieved. Established in 1844 at the Magill Estate near Adelaide, it laid the foundation for fine wine production in Australia.
The winemaking team is led by the masterful Peter Gago; it has the herculean task of blending the best wines from a multitude of different plots, vineyards and regions to create a consistent and outstanding range of wines. Its flagship wine, Grange, is firmly established as one of the finest red wines in the world.
Under Gago’s stewardship, the Penfolds range has evolved over time. Winemaking has moved away from New World heat and the sort of larger-than-life style that can mask individuality; the contemporary wines instead favour fine balance and typicity for the region or grape.
Barossa Valley
Barossa Valley is the South Australia's wine industry's birthplace. Currently into its fifth generation, it dates back to 1839 when George Fife Angas’ South Australian Company purchased 28,000 acres at a £1 per acre and sold them onto landed gentry, mostly German Lutherans. The first vines were planted in 1843 in Bethany, and by the 1870s – with Europe ravaged by war and Phylloxera - Gladstone’s British government complemented its colonies with preferential duties.
Fortified wines, strong enough to survive the 20,000km journey, flooded the British market. Churchill followed, between the Wars, re-affirming Australia’s position as a leading supplier of ‘Empire wines’. After the Second World War, mass European immigration saw a move to lighter wines, as confirmed by Grange Hermitage’s creation during the 1950s. Stainless-steel vats and refrigeration improved the quality of the dry table wines on offer, with table wine consumption exceeding fortified for the first time in 1970.
Averaging 200 to 400 metres’ altitude, the region covers 6,500 hectares of mainly terra rossa loam over limestone, as well as some warmer, sandier sites – the Cambrian limestone being far more visible along the eastern boundary (the Barossa Ranges) with Eden Valley. Following a diagonal shape, Lyndoch at the southern end nearest Gulf St Vincent is the region’s coolest spot, benefiting from sea fogs, while Nuriootpa (further north) is warmer; hot northerlies can be offset by sea breezes. The region is also home to the country’s largest concentration of 100-year-old-vine Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvedre.
Barossa Valley Shiraz is one of the country’s most identifiable and famous red wine styles, produced to a high quality by the likes of Rockford, Elderton, Torbreck and Dean Hewitson. Grenache and Mourvèdre are two of the region’s hidden gems, often blended with Shiraz, yet occasionally released as single vineyard styles such as Hewitson’s ‘Old Garden’, whose vines date back to 1853. Cabernet Sauvignon is a less highly-regarded cultivar.
Wines are traditionally vinified in open concrete fermenters before being cleaned up and finished in American and French oak barrels or ‘puncheons’ of approximately 600 litres. Barossa Shiraz should be rich, spicy and suave, with hints of leather and pepper.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
2020 Grange continues to set the bar for Australian wine. As to be expected there is plenty of rich and ripe dark fruit character, morello cherries and black pepper spices. The palate is full and complete, the structure is dense with well-rounded, fine tannins that is perfectly balanced with refreshing acidity. It is hard to talk about the finish because this wine goes on and on, dark chocolate and cured tobacco notes linger on the palate that evolve in to sweet aromatic baking notes. Yet another seriously good Grange.
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Chris Parker, Account Manager, Berry Bros. & Rudd (September 2024)
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