Home on the Grange – The Story of Penfolds’ Best Wine | wine gift baskets | wine gift idea

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Home on the Grange – The Story of Penfolds’ Best Wine

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The highly prized ‘Penfolds Grange’ is produced using mainly Shiraz grapes, mixed with small amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon. Considered by many to be Australia’s ‘first growth’, Penfolds Grange has become one of Australia’s most collectible wines.

It was the it was the perseverance and dedication of a winemaker called Max Schubert that lead to the first vintage of Penfolds Grange. Touring around Europe and spending a lot of time in Bordeaux, France, Max spent much of 1950 learning winemaking techniques. When he returned to Penfolds in 1951, Schubert produced the first run of Penfolds Grange, a wine designed to rival its French counterparts in aging potential and quality.

When Penfolds Grange was first released in 1951, it was in an era where fortified wines were all the rage and Penfolds Grange was left on the shelf, under-appreciated with its true potential unrecognized. As time went by, sales did not pick up, prompting Penfolds management to cancel production in 1957.

Schubert was not phased by management’s decision and continued to secretly manufacture Grange. It was in 1960 that Penfolds Grange came into its own with the wine community recognizing its quality. With increasing sales and popularity, Penfolds management ordered Schubert to resume producing Grange, oblivious to the fact that he actually hadn’t stopped in the first place.

From its first entry into wine competitions in 1962 up until the current day, Penfolds Grange has been performing strongly in wine awards, collecting over 50 gold medals from various judging events, including the Wine Olympics.

The name ‘Hermitage’ was originally used in Australia as a synonym for Shiraz, which was adopted by the Penfolds Grange label. In 1990, the name ‘Hermitage’ was excluded from the label after objections from the European Union for Penfolds using a recognized French region name.

Wine fans who are familiar with Penfolds Grange will also notice a large ‘Bin 95′ stamped on the label. Bin 95 refers to the storage location in the Penfolds winery which has been the same location since 1964. In the first vintage it was housed in Bin 1 and in 1952, Bin 4. In the following vintages, it was housed in various Bins until finding a permanent home in Bin 95.

With such a rich history, its little wonder that Penfolds Grange is one of Australia’s most well known wines.

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