2020 Penfolds, Grange, South Australia

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.

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.

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.

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.

Extremely dark, concentrated purplish crimson. Heady, rich, layered nose. Sweet start yet a dry, chewy finish. Very youthful. Wait! Almost painful to taste now. (JR)