1971 Grange

'If you had to point to a wine which fulfilled all the ambitions of Grange, it would have to be the 1971', said Max Schubert in 1993. 'It was a great wine from a vintage that was great throughout South Australia.'

It created a sensation when it won gold and topped its class at the Gault-Millau Wine Olympiad in Paris in 1979 beating the best Rhône Valley wines.

Sourced from the Barossa Valley (including Kalimna Vineyard), Magill Estate (Adelaide), Clare Valley and Coonawarra. An excellent year in South Australia with ideal, generally warm conditions throughout both growing season and vintage. The result was an abundance of grapes of very high quality.

Shiraz (87%), Cabernet Sauvignon (13%). Eighteen months in new American oak hogsheads.

Max Schubert, Penfolds chief winemaker

96/100

I have had this wine on five separate occasions and on each occasion it has been a prodigious example of Grange Hermitage. The wine has consistently revealed the fruit levels, intensity, and complexity that are the hallmarks of a classic Grange.

In fact, it is the first great Grange Hermitage since the debut vintage of 1955. The color is a mature garnet with considerable amber/orange at the edge. The magnificent aromatic profile includes scents of cedar, caramel, coffee, toffee, chocolate, and gobs of jammy black-cherry and currant fruit.

It could easily be mistaken for an old, magnificent Pomerol given its voluptuous texture, glorious richness, unctuosity, and phenomenal concentration, fat, and length.

The wine has been fully mature since I first tasted it in 1990, yet it is capable of lasting for another decade. This is the real thing!

Robert M. Parker Jr., Wine Advocate #100, August 1995

92/100

Harvey Steiman, Wine Spectator, 31 January 1997

97/100

Jeremy Oliver, www.jeremyoliver.com