Penfolds Grange Shiraz 1990
Penfolds Bin 95 Grange Shiraz 1990
Score: 99/100 — Campbell Mattinson
AU $130 on release in 1994, 13.8% alcohol, cork, South Australia.
Tasted: 2026 (fifth tasting)
Taster: Campbell Mattinson has tasted every commercial release of Penfolds Grange from the 1952 Penfolds Grange through to the current release of Penfolds Grange inclusive.
Verdict: Now ranked among Campbell Mattinson's favourite Grange vintages — a benchmark release that helped establish Grange's reputation outside Australia.
I had the Penfolds Grange 1996 in my hand. It’s a vintage that I’ve always loved and it was absolutely singing and it was a quiet tasting with a large number of media in attendance and so if you listened closely you could hear me crowing. I have raved about Grange 1996 for decades and I’ve bought it for myself and I’ve felt like a lone wolf trailing through deep snow, in a gale, as the only one who champions this vintage and here it was, just look at it, so magnificent, so profound, so complex, so everything – and looking this way in front of such an audience too. The words suffer in your jocks crossed my mind. Finally, I have been vindicated. Grange 1996 is the fairest of them all.
And then, to celebrate, I took another magnificent sip and held the wine in my mouth. And as I did I looked down. And when I looked down I noticed that in my hand was not actually Grange 1996 but, rather, was Grange 1990.
So crestfallen was I, for an instant, that my heart stopped.
And then I swallowed and it was like being born again all over.
Penfolds Grange 1990 is one hell of a wine. If you just want to read my original review and my updated note from this tasting in 2026, skip over the talking points and the background and head straight down to the review.
Penfolds Grange 1990 was the first release of Grange to crack the $100 RRP mark, in Australian dollars. Penfolds Grange 1989 was AU $99 at the time of its release. Penfolds Grange 1990 was AU $130 at the time of its release.
Penfolds Grange 1990 was the first Australian wine to be named Wine of the Year in US publication Wine Spectator. It was the first wine from the Southern Hemisphere to win this award.
Despite the higher price, most allocations of Penfolds Grange 1990 sold out within days/weeks. The market price at the time quickly moved into the AU $150-$200 range.
Penfolds Grange 1990 was the first release to simply be called just that, Penfolds Grange. The word Hermitage was removed from the front label, following stricter labelling laws in international markets.
Penfolds Grange 1990 was made by John Duval.
Penfolds Grange 1990 is one of the all-time great releases of Penfolds Grange. If such things could be determined with certainty, it might even be the greatest. Its reputation was hyped before it was even released and, if anything, its reputation has grown. There are legendary releases of Penfolds Grange – 1955, 1962, 1971, 1986 and 1996 for instance – and 1990 sits comfortably among them, if not at their helm.
Penfolds Grange 1990 is a blend of 95% Shiraz, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon
Penfolds Grange 1990 was grown in the Barossa Valley (inc Kalimna Vineyard), Clare Valley and Coonawarra regions.
Penfolds Grange 1990 spent 18 months in new American oak hogsheads.
Critic reviews are one thing. How consumers receive the wine, when they open a bottle, are another. It’s interesting to see the comments on the original Winefront review of the Penfolds Grange 1990.
Penfolds Grange Alcohol Levels, Vintage by Vintage – it’s worth looking at where Grange 1990 sits.
I’ve tasted Penfolds Grange 1990 on five occasions, most recently in 2026.
While 1971 and 1996 are more commonly cited as Grange's peak, I now – as a result of this June 2026 tasting – rate 1990 above them. That is, Penfolds Grange 1990 is now at the top of my Grange list as the Grange that I would most like to drink.
1990 Penfolds Grange is at its drinking peak right now.
Background: Penfolds Grange Shiraz is listed as a Heritage Icon of South Australia. It has an unbroken lineage back to 1951. It’s routinely released as a four-year-old, and routinely matured in 100% American oak hogsheads for 18 months. The use of new American oak is not a modern phenomena; the first commercial release of Penfolds Grange Hermitage, the 1952 vintage, was similarly matured for 18 months in new American oak. Penfolds Bin 95 Grange was named Grange Hermitage from 1952 through to 1989 inclusive. It’s been labelled as Penfolds Grange Bin 95 (sans Hermitage) from the 1990 vintage onwards. It’s commonly called, simply, Grange.
Review: PENFOLDS GRANGE 1990
My original review of Penfolds Grange 1990 was: “Sweet oak shows prominently. This is a big wine that not only copes with its oak but uses it as a temperance to its mountain of sweet, saturated fruit. In the mouth this wine is superb: big, balanced, long and stuffed with mature, swashbuckling tannin. Earthy sawdusty characters liven up the considerable churn of licorice and blackcurrant-like flavour. It's a model of a pristine, powerful, youthful wine. Even so, the storm of this wine is still brewing; when it arrives it will be immense.”
I tasted this wine again in 2026. I wrote: “1990 Grange was always great and if anything it’s become greater. In fact, this wine is a sensation. It shows classic Grange characters of ants and saltbush and leather and a rich assortment of dark, saturated, succulent berries. But it’s the wine’s balance, the firmness, the authority. The length. And more than anything, the beauty. There may well be the equal but I’m not sure that there’s a better 36 year old red wine in the world, from anywhere, made with anything. I’m not sure that there have been many better wines made, in history, full stop.”
Score: 99 points.
When to Drink: 2020-2033+
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All reviews of Penfolds Grange on the Mattinson site are available via the Penfolds Grange tag.
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See also [Penfolds Grange 1952–2022 Full Reviews on The Winefront]
See also [Penfolds Grange Shiraz 2022]
