Wine Details

Inky red with a hint of purple. Full on peppered blackberries on the nose plus a hint of caramelly butterscotch. In the mouth the fruit balanced with savoury notes of tar, pepper. Nice acid, with smooth, perhaps under represented tannins. Nice long tangy toasted fruit finish. Great drinking, full on, but not especially complex.

Rich with dark aromas of pepper, blackberry, licorice. A tiny hint of mushroom. Smooth. Fine grained tannins and nicely balanced acids. The dark fruit are rich and last long into the finish. Quite a fruit bomb, but not over the top like some.

A deepened crimson with a purple core. The nose is complex and beguiling, with notes of demi-glace and roasting pan juices, beneath scents of pipe tobacco, vanilla and pencil shavings oak - much more than just a simple varietal offering. The palate is full-bodied, refined and taut showing dark, black conserve fruit flavours with Satsuma plum notes to the fore. Further liqueur chocolate and spice flavours are impregnated by overt, chewy and ripe tannins. To sum up, the integrated fruit, oak and acid loudly proclaim harmony and balance. The 2004 vintage conditions were first class and rank alongside and recent exemplary vintage. This, the 2004 vintage, is a real Bin 28, showing polish, poise and pedigree. By all means, drink whenever, but please save some for the cellar, and the 2010s! Cellar Notes

Deep red brown. On the nose boiled crab?! Along with the classical pepper and blackberry. Delicious and lush in the mouth with great acid and tannin in balance. The finish is long and fruity, but not sweet. There is also something hot and spicy there. This wine has really nice complexity. Fantastic integration. I was most impressed how well this wine stood up to the competition on the night.

Purpurrot mit Brauntönen, Intensiv in der Nase, Schwarze Johannisbeere und Pfeffer, Kräuternoten und Beeren am Gaumen mit leichter Schärfe, kräftiger und langer Abgang, im Vergleich zum GR Konkurrenten etwas wuchtiger jedoch in der Nase ist der GR gehaltvoller. ★★★★↑

Purple almost black. Good alcohol. Super interesting. Fish. Great Tanins. Long. Long. Just Fantastic. Rich, Complex, Long. Just Fantastic.

Sehr intensiv - eine Fruchtbombe! Dörrobst (Pflaume). Klasse! Rund, frisch. Feine Tannine, vollmundig, leicht minziger Geschmack. Langer Abgang - ein fabelhafter Wein. ★★★★

Lovely brightness to the purple-red hue of this densely coloured wine. Immediately appealing to me on the nose with its creamy American oak mingling with spices and succulent ripe berry fruits. Hints of violet too. Lovely sweet ripe berry fruit in the palate carries the blockbuster tannins, very harmonious, lovely balance, everything you want in a Shiraz - creamy oak, liquorice spices, ripe burst of black berried fruits with a touch of mint and a long chocolatey finish. An excellent wine that lives up to expectations. Back to its very best. 19/20. 01.04.2002

Very deep, healthy crimson. This standard bearer for the troubled Penfolds company (entangled in Southcorp's downward spiral) will not be released until next year but could not be more archetypal - and many a company would have no qualms about releasing it already. Indeed, one has to ask whether in view of Southcorp's desperate need to improve the balance sheet, Penfolds are justified in persisting with their late release policy. Grange 1998 has just been released to great acclaim along with the company's other top 1998s, but imagine the Bordelais waiting until now to release their 1998s... This wine is big in every way, round, full, and so smooth and sweet it's almost syrupy. Then there's that overlay of saltiness I find so often in South Australian Shiraz... Not a bad price for a wine that history has proved can age extremely well, provided you like the style.