Grange La Chapelle: Penfolds and La Chapelle announce the birth of controversial $3500 super-blend
La Chapelle chief winemaker Caroline Frey and Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago on the Hill of Hermitage to launch Penfolds Grange La Chapelle.
Grange La Chapelle 2021 is the first time Penfolds’ flagship Grange shiraz has ever been blended with another producer’s wine — a 50/50 mix of French Syrah from Domaine de La Chapelle (Hermitage, Rhône) and Australian Shiraz from Grange vineyards (Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Clare Valley).
The Grange La Chapelle project stems from a long-standing friendship between Penfolds’ Chief Winemaker Peter Gago and La Chapelle’s Caroline Frey.
The inaugural 2021 Grange La Chapelle vintage was globally unveiled in Paris (Monnaie de Paris) on 9 February 2025.
Quantities of the 2021 Grange La Chapelle are extremely limited — only very small allocations worldwide, with select sales through hand-selected merchants and direct to consumer channels in Australia and the USA.
Grange La Chapelle introduces Paul Jaboulet’s classic La Chapelle Hermitage to American oak for the first time.
Grange La Chapelle introduces Penfolds Grange to French oak for the first time.
Grange La Chapelle is aimed at collectors of luxury items.
Penfolds Grange and La Chapelle, two of the world's most famous shiraz-based wines, have had a baby. It's called Grange La Chapelle. The Hill of Hermitage and various South Australian vineyards combine here to create a – controversial – super-blend wine like no other.
The new wine, from the 2021 vintage, costs $3500 per bottle. Elon Musk and his ilk now have something new to buy, each year. The wine means that there is now a new Grange, and a new La Chapelle. It is 50/50 of each. La Chapelle will accordingly get to experience American oak, presumably for the first time, via the American-oaked Grange (100% new), and Grange likewise will mingle with the French oak-ed La Chapelle (20% new). Quantities are limited. Hurry to avoid disappointment.
Penfolds Grange La Chapelle 2021 is 14% alcohol. It’s off the Hill at Hermitage, on the one hand, and vineyards in the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Clare Valley on the other. 2021 is the first release but Grange La Chapelle is expected to be released every year from now.
The 2021 Grange La Chapelle is released today. The 2022 has already been bottled. The 2023 is still in barrel.
Caroline Frey, winemaker at La Chapelle, said of the new Grange La Chapelle: “By uniting two iconic wines, this collaboration achieves something truly groundbreaking. As a vine grower, as a winemaker, it’s so magical, I would have never even dared to imagine it. No one in the world has ever blended two such legendary terroirs. It's like Picasso and Dalí painting on the same canvas – an idea so extraordinary it almost feels too incredible to be real.”
Peter Gago, chief winemaker at Penfolds, said of Grange La Chapelle: “Via one variety this wine fuses two hemispheres and two winemaking cultures. France and South Australia, Syrah and Shiraz, La Chapelle and Grange. Truly, a blend waiting to happen. Emotionally, a wine beguilingly alluring. Ultimately, harmony and classicism redefined.”
The Penfolds press release noted: “A long-standing friendship between Caroline Frey, chief winemaker and vigneron, La Chapelle and Peter Gago, chief winemaker Penfolds Grange enabled this unexpected union to showcase what this varietal can achieve aromatically and structurally - coalescing different geographies, different soils and different winemaking cultures. Caroline and Peter both acknowledge that after many conversations, the time was right to work together.”
The 750ml RRP of Grange La Chapelle 2021 in Australia is AUD: $3,500. In France the 750ml RRP of Penfolds Grange La Chapelle is €2,600. The official website for Penfolds Grange La Chapelle 2021 is grangexlachapelle.com .
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The 2022 Grange La Chapelle is discussed and reviewed here.
Grange La Chapelle.
This is what a bottle of Grange La Chapelle looks like.
“Via one variety this wine fuses two hemispheres and two winemaking cultures”
“No one in the world has ever blended two such legendary terroirs.”
