1970 Penfolds Bin 95 Grange Hermitage – South Australia ★★
Lived in the shadow of the 1971 vintage and never achieved a big reputation. Starting to maderise and lose freshness. Drink up. 90% Shiraz, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Past, 11.5% alc Kalimna Vineyard (Barossa Valley)/Barossa Valley/Magill Estate (Adelaide). Penfolds standardises Grange bottlings to the single designation of Bin 95.
1971 Penfolds Bin 95 Grange Hermitage – South Australia ★★★★★
G 98
Deep crimson. Lovely fresh roasted walnut praline, earthy waxy leather aromas with nutty vanilla espresso spicy oak salted liquorice notes. Superbly concentrated inky deep wine with deep-set dark chocolate espresso/ground coffee roasted walnut vanilla spice waxy leather flavours, fine persistent chalky but supple tannins, superb sweet fruit/ oak complexity and long fresh integrated acidity. Finishes chalky firm. Superb old wine with wonderful complexity, richness and vigour. Will last. 87% Shiraz, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now–2030+, 11.8%/12.3% alc Kalimna Vineyard (Barossa Valley)/Barossa Valley/Magill Estate (Adelaide)/ Clare Valley/Coonawarra. ‘If you had to point to a wine which fulfilled the ambitions of Grange, it would have to be the 1971.’ (Max Schubert, 1993) Topped the Gault-Millau Wine Olympiad in Paris in 1979, beating some of the best Rhône wines and creating a sensation. This vintage was used as an alternative investment indicator by Australia’s Deloitte Access Economics during the 1990s. 1972 Penfolds Bin 95 Grange Hermitage – South Australia ★★ G 91 Some bottles still holding, but most past their best now. Drink up. 90% Shiraz, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now–soon, 12% alc Kalimna Vineyard (Barossa Valley)/Barossa Valley/Magill Estate (Adelaide)/ Modbury Vineyard (Adelaide)/Coonawarra. A very good Grange vintage. Reportedly, a batch was unintentionally oxidised during bottling, resulting in significant bottle variation.
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The Vintage Journal – Verticals
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