Penfolds Grange Shiraz 1999
Penfolds Bin 95 Grange Shiraz 1999
AU $395 on release in 2003, 14.5% alcohol, cork, South Australia.
If you just want to read my original review and my updated note from a tasting in 2026, skip over the talking points and the background and head straight on to the review.
Penfolds Grange is known as a shiraz but it routinely includes small portions of Cabernet Sauvignon. Penfolds Grange 1999 was the first Grange in 36 years to be 100% Shiraz (first since the 1963 release).
Penfolds Grange 1999 came out of oak one month earlier than customary; it spent 17 months in new American oak hogsheads.
1996, 1998 and 1999 are all great releases of Penfolds Grange. The following Penfolds Grange 2000 is one of the poorest releases of Grange. This 1999 release sent a great decade of Penfolds Grange off with a flourish.
Penfolds Grange 1999 was grown in the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Padthaway regions.
Mattinson has tasted Penfolds Grange 2009 on two occasions, most recently in 2023.
General Grange 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 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.
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Review PENFOLDS GRANGE 1999:
My original review of Penfolds Grange 1999 was: “This is a fabulously balanced Grange, the perfect follow-up to the extraordinary 1998. Full of luscious, elevated, malty oak and crawling with deliciously spiced, leather-like, licorice-laden, plum-infused, blackberried fruit, it’s gorgeously supple and gamey and long, with a magnificent silkiness and a sense of power, balance and finesse almost second to none. Given a good decant it drinks outstandingly well already, but it will live for a very long time. Given that time, this will become a top-shelf Grange.”
Twenty years later, in 2023, I wrote: “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. It has power and it has elegance. Indeed it’s arguably a better wine now than it was even in its youth.”
Score: 95 points.
When to Drink: 2019-2029+
Original score of 95/100 holds true, edging towards a point higher.
All reviews of Penfolds Grange on this site are available via the Penfolds Grange tag.
See also [Penfolds Grange 1952–2022 Full Reviews on The Winefront]
