Grange Expectations – The History Behind Penfolds Greatest Wine
Australia’s premium wine, Penfolds Grange, is produced using Shiraz grapes for the bulk, mixed with a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon. Produced from what many consider to be Australia’s ‘first growth’, Penfolds Grange is regarded to be Australia’s most collectible wine.
It was the hard work, passion and dedication of Max Schubert the lead to the Penfolds Grange that people know today. Touring around Europe and spending a lot of time in Bordeaux, France, Max spent much of 1950 learning winemaking techniques. When he returned to Penfolds in 1951, Schubert produced the first run of Penfolds Grange, a wine designed to rival its French counterparts in aging potential and quality.
After its initial release in 1951, Penfolds Grange was not a big seller due to Fortified Wines being the latest trend in the wine world. By 1957, Penfolds Grange was still suffering from a lack of sales, causing Penfolds management to cancel future productions of Grange.
Schubert was not phased by management’s decision and continued to secretly manufacture Grange. In 1960, eight years after its first vintage, wine critics began to take notice of the quality of Penfolds Grange. With increasing sales and popularity, Penfolds management ordered Schubert to resume producing Grange, oblivious to the fact that he actually hadn’t stopped in the first place.
It was first entered into wine competitions in 1962 and since has been collecting gold medals from numerous wine awards, including the Wine Olympics.
On the older labels of Penfolds Grange, people can find the name ‘Hermitage’ which was used in Australia as another term for Shiraz. It was in 1990, after objections form the European Union that Hermitage was a recognized French winemaking region, Penfolds dropped it from the label.
People familiar with Penfolds Grange will also know that the labels carry the words ‘Bin 95′. Bin 95 is the storage location of Penfolds Grange, which has been that way since 1964. In the first vintage it was housed in Bin 1 and in 1952, Bin 4. Following vintages were stored in various bins until it found a permanent place in Bin 95.
With such a rich history, its little wonder that Penfolds Grange is one of Australia’s most well known wines.
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