Penfolds Grange 2003

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Grange is arguably Australia's most famous wine and is officially listed as a Heritage Icon of South Australia. Grange boasts an unbroken line of vintages from the experimental 1951 and clearly demonstrates the synergy between Shiraz and the soils and climates of South Australia.
PENFOLDS Grange displays fully-ripe, intensely-flavoured and textured Shiraz grapes in combination with new American oak. The result is a unique Australian style that is now recognised as one of the most consistent of the world's great wines. The Grange style is the original and most powerful expression of PENFOLDS multi-vineyard, multi-district blending philosophy.
VINEYARD REGION Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, McLaren Vale, Magill
VINTAGE CONDITIONS The 2003 vintage was initially warm and dry, becoming milder later in the season. These conditions prompted an early start of harvest with the fruit reaching optimum ripeness evenly. The vintage produced Shiraz with dense colour, impressive varietal characters and soft tannins.
GRAPE VARIETY 97% Shiraz, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon
MATURATION This wine was matured for 15 months in new
American oak hogsheads.

WINE ANALYSIS
Alc/Vol: 14.50%
Acidity: 6.90g/L
pH: 3.60

LAST TASTED 6.11.2007
PEAK DRINKING 2012 to 2038
FOOD MATCHES Wagyu beef.

Winemaker comments by
Peter Gago - PENFOLDS Chief Winemaker
COLOUR Deep red.
NOSE Captivating, complex, complete. Unravelling aromatics unfurl with air - blue fruit notes entwined with barrel ferment and maturation elements; nothing singular, always in tandem. Sweet soy, cola and quince paste high notes escape from an ethereal layer (aniseed, fennel and fresh treacle ginger pudding) wafting above.
PALATE Dark and liqueur chocolate, laced with Moroccan spices. An underlying tar/graphite blackness is lifted by derived fruit/quince pie flavours - a few years earlier they may have been more brashly varietal and elemental. Pronounced tannins sweep across the palate, although they are certainly part of the wine, never obtrusive. Long, layered and compelling, this wine is at the spicier end of the Grange spectrum.

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