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Tasting notes
Thick, dense, and camphor. Just a hint of volatile acidity. Dense. Yes, fresh, too! Vital. (JR)
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Robert Parker
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
A vintage, we were told, that was 'overshadowed by huge years on each side'. It may have been overshadowed for years, but it is just great right now! Seductive texture, like sea-polished driftwood. Cedar and dark fruit and graphite and iron and touch of wild thyme. Very elegant. Shadowy but a wine with subtle strength. Early-morning campfire. Smoke and pepper. Perhaps the least rich of the five Grange vintages, but the one wine where port-sweet fruit stepped back to allow so much more complexity of herb and spice to come to the fore. I thought that this was quite special. And so lovely for drinking now. (TC)
The 1997 Grange (a blend of 96% Shiraz and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon) looks to be a classic Grange, although slightly softer and more forward than the backward 1996. The saturated purple-colored 1997 offers a gorgeously sweet nose of blackberry liqueur, cherries, camphor, chocolate, plums, and mocha. The wine is opulently-textured, extremely soft, layered, and seductive, with Grange's tell-tale personality well-displayed, but in a seamless, seductive style. This is a superb Grange that can hold its own against the more heralded 1996. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2022. Importer: Southcorp Wines, The Americas, Napa, CA; tel. (707) 258-8755
About the producer
Penfolds is Australia’s most famous wine producer, known best for their iconic top wine, Grange. First produced commercially in 1952, Grange has since gone on to become one of the world’s most famous fine wines. In 2001, the wine was listed as an Australian heritage icon.