Robert Parker (98)
2021 was a magnificent season in South Australia, one blessed with good yields (a change from the previous several years of low yields and drought conditions), healthy rainfall leading into the season and dry, mild conditions during ripening. Vignerons could not have hoped for better conditions. So here, the 2021 Grange is powerful, ripe, structural yet balanced, long and complex. There is a softness to the middle palate, which speaks to the mildness of the conditions, potentially positioning this as one of the best modern-era Granges. The fruit (94% Shiraz, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon) was sourced from Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Clare Valley. For critics of this style, my only wish to assist with clarification could be teleportation, together, into a future 30 or 40 years from now. We would drink this wine, where it would still appear fresh and yet would have settled into its finesse and grace as well. It matured for 18 months in American oak, 100% new. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.
James Suckling (98)
Wow. What a release of this famed Australian wine, made from 94% shiraz and 6% cabernet sauvignon. Aromas of blackcurrants, cured meat, cedar, iodine, blackberry compote and lilacs. The palate is full-bodied with seamlessly integrated tannins and a powerful yet silken mouthfeel that persists in a long-lasting finish. You can taste the prestige and history, tied in with the expression of the warm 2021 vintage. As always, a wine for aging but drinking well now.
Jancis Robinson (18.50)
Black! Sweet and rich and polished. No heat! Just purple satin impressions in terms of texture. Very intense nose. Sweet and salt. Macerated purple berries with dry hickory sticks on the end. Long. Extremely youthful with a lot of ripe tannin on the end, even in a glass kept for several hours after the bottle was opened. This should eventually be very rewarding but it would be mad to open a bottle before 2030.
Vinous (97)
The 2021 Shiraz Cabernet Grange is fabulous and already in the groove. It has the raw power and structure to sail for decades. Waves of licorice, chocolate, cocoa, blackberry and belt leather are surprisingly approachable and expressive. The palate is a different beast entirely, with piles of powdery tannins holding this package tight and unevolved. A nice touch of acidity freshens up the long, strong finish.
Decanter (99)
Confession: Grange has never been my favourite of the Penfolds portfolio (I am a St Henri girl) but I’ve been converted. And if ever a vintage were to turn me, 2021 was always going to be the one, heralded by many in South Australia as a ‘vintage of a lifetime’. Sourced from sites across the Barossa Valley (66%), McLaren Vale (26%) and Clare Valley (8%), it is a blend of 94% Shiraz and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, which spends 18 months in 100% new American oak hogsheads, and has already integrated seamlessly into the opulent fruit. My initial impressions, hurriedly typed, start with a string of descriptors that detail just how seductive it is already: “Wow! Exotic, inky, generous, silky, ripe, velvety. Immense. Incredible. The whole package!” (My colleague Georgie Hindle wrote: “Classy and so sophisticated. Like looking at a gorgeous man in a tuxedo.”) The trademark Grange volatile acidity presents itself as macerated balsamic strawberries, tapenade and tarmac, joining mouthfilling silky tannins and sumptuous aromas and flavours of boysenberry, root beer, mocha, salted liquorice and crème caramel. If you can ignore its siren call from the cellar, it easily has three to five decades of life ahead.
