Penfolds Grange Shiraz 2020: Review and mini vertical
Penfolds Grange is the great Australian shiraz. It’s been made in the same style and to the same template since the 1950s, more or less, though over the years it has become more consistently great, year on year. There’s too much riding on Penfolds Grange now for there to be a miss; the last genuinely poor Grange was the 2000 release, which may well never have seen the light of day save for the fact that Grange’s uninterrupted run has a value in itself.
Penfolds Grange, despite its fame, has never (even from the start) been for everyone, and that’s more true now than ever. Many wine enthusiasts now find its dense, 100% American oak persona a bit too much, and prefer something a bit finer, or lighter, or more varied. This of course takes nothing from the beauty, glory and longevity of Penfolds Grange itself. Penfolds Grange remains one of the world’s most wondered at wines for very good reason. It’s virtually peerless in its combination of story, history and delivery in the glass.
The 2020 Penfolds Grange Shiraz is from a vintage that was drastically hot for a month and a bit, but then turned cooler. Shiraz, which performs well pretty much everywhere and in all kinds of conditions, took this heat and asked the weather gods whether that was the best it had. You might expect a burly Grange from these conditions but the 2020 vintage is not that – even though, as always, it’s substantially and deeply flavoured. There’s something traditional about this 2020 Grange; not in a lighter or lower alcohol way, but in its flavour profile. Penfolds Grange is famous for its “crushed ant” aromas and this vintage has them. It’s sweet with plum, lifted with mint, wrapped in woodsmoke and brushed with vanilla cream. It doesn’t pound you into submission but it does establish, firmly, it’s law.
In short, if 2020 is an important year to you and you need a keepsake wine; with the 2020 Penfolds Grange Shiraz you’re not buying a dud. Long term, it will hold up.
The Winefront’s Penfolds Grange 2020 full review.
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I’ve reviewed pretty much every release of Penfolds Grange Shiraz, all the way back to the 1952. Historic reviews of every vintage of Penfolds Grange are on The Winefront here.
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This time last year I ran briefly through a mini 3-vintage vertical of Penfolds Grange: 1989, 1999 and 2009. My notes are not extensive because it was the end of a long tasting, and the 2019 vintage was the more pertinent wine of the day. But my notes on these three vintages were:
Penfolds Grange Shiraz 2009
Not quite but just about to enter the drinking zone. Salty-soy notes, leathers, earth and berried fruits. Tannin has largely tamed. This looks in excellent shape though it’s still in the primary-to-secondary transition phase, and should be left along a few years.
Penfolds Grange Shiraz 1999
Wonderful. Superb. Drink now or anytime in the next 20 years. Commands the glass. Tannin, developed fruit, myriad flavours. This is an excellent vintage at an excellent stage of its life.
Penfolds Grange Shiraz 1989
Honeyed, sweet fruited, fuly developed. This was the last wine of the day and I should have paid it more respect and attention. But on this showing it’s a drink-up prospect. (My original Winefront review has the drinking window ending at 2018, so this impression may well be accurate.)
If you want more Penfolds 2024 analysis, try this for starters.
Penfolds Grange, made principally with shiraz, is virtually peerless in its combination of story, history and delivery in the glass.
