Grange La Chapelle 2022 rushed to market
Grange La Chapelle 2021 was the first time Penfolds’ flagship Grange shiraz had 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). This 2022 release is the second in this new (controversial) luxury line.
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. The 2022 was shown more widely to media around the world.
Quantities of the 2022 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 2021 introduced Paul Jaboulet’s classic La Chapelle Hermitage to American oak for the first time. This 2022 continues this theme.
Grange La Chapelle 2021 introduced Penfolds Grange to French oak for the first time.
Grange La Chapelle is aimed at collectors of luxury items.
Campbell Mattinson scores the 2022 Grange La Chapelle 97/100, noting “The length of the palate is exceptional, the aftertaste is so minerally, so rock-strewn. It feels as though there’s some alcohol warmth but otherwise this wine is not short of magnificence.”
Maybe it’s because of the disastrous financial performance of Penfolds’ mothership company, Treasury Wine Estates (the TWE share price is now two-thirds lower than it was three years ago, from AU $15 to AU $5). Maybe it’s to help bring in some much-needed cash following the two billion dollar gross overspend on American wine assets Daou and Frank Family Vineyards. Or maybe it’s just so that it can be poured at the upcoming Wine Paris 2026 and, with a bit of luck, have some fresh new scores out of 100 to brag about. But whatever the reason, Penfolds has rushed the second release of its Grange La Chapelle wine to market – ahead of its own embargoed schedule – and suddenly released the latest edition of its most controversial wine.
The $3500 Grange La Chapelle 2021 has now been followed by the $3500 Grange La Chapelle 2022 (2600 euro). As with the 2021, the 2022 is a 50/50 blend of 100% shiraz from each producer. The wine is matured in a combination of new American oak (Grange) and new/used French oak (La Chapelle). The La Chapelle component is of course from the Hill of Hermitage in the Rhone, France, while the Grange component is from the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra, in Australia.
Accompanying this 2022 release is a press release that’s littered, arguably appropriately, with a set of fanciful quotes that say a lot without saying anything. Penfolds winemaker Peter Gago said, “If 2021 introduced Grange La Chapelle then 2022 welcomes La Chapelle Grange – interchangeably, assuredly, sensitively, convincingly.”
La Chapelle winemaker Caroline Frey said, “Grange La Chapelle is a conversation between two hemispheres. With this second vintage, building on the foundation laid in 2021, the identity of the wine is firmly established, carried by the singularity and magic of the 2022 vintage.”
Peter Gago said, “The right things happened at the right times across the two disparate growing seasons. This 50:50 blend has woven a majestic Syrah/Shiraz exemplar. One for the ages.”
The press release itself – more coherently – says, “Embodying Australian boldness and French finesse, Grange La Chapelle 2022 is a wine that speaks two languages fluently yet tells one compelling story.”
That compelling story is that a market exists for exclusive wine play things, and so exclusive wine play things must be concocted. If you’ve got it, flaunt it.
The 2022 Grange La Chapelle was shown to Australian wine media at the general Penfolds tasting held on a cold, wet day in Adelaide in the middle of 2025. Any note on this controversial wine has been embargoed since. It was served that day as wine umber 20 of 23 wines. Penfolds Grange 2021, that day, was served as wine thirteen.
Straight from my notebook:
Penfolds Grange La Chapelle 2022
The first words to come to mind: it’s noticeably and impressively harmonious. It has melded. Plums, black cherries, cream, flings of aromatic herbs but not exaggeratedly so. Aromatically there’s a pan juices note, like roast lamb and rosemary. The palate itself has a gentle saltiness. The finish is creamy but also spicy, peppery, earthen and herbal; it’s fine-grained, and in both sensation and in shape it has a feel of difference to the other Penfolds wares. The length of the palate is exceptional, the aftertaste is so minerally, so rock-strewn. It feels as though there’s some alcohol warmth but otherwise this wine is not short of magnificence. It’s arguably a better wine than 2021 Grange, or it is if intrigue is a measure you value.
97/100.
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