We are getting towards the end of building our Barossa edition of ‘repast’ and caught up with Peter Gago to taste a few wines yesterday. After some thoroughly engaging tales of Penfolds and his wine travels, he opened the recently released ’15 Grange for us to have a squiz at. It was great to check in on how the ’08 is doing too.
2015 Penfolds Grange: The nose is immediately inviting, drawing you in with whiffs of licorice, vanilla, blood plum, raspberry and sarsaparilla root. It is deeply pitch and loaded with dark fruits in the mouth. It has great intensity and build, and the extremely long finish is carried by velvety, plush tannins.
2008 Penfolds Grange: Picked early February in 2008, just avoiding the massive heatwave that was to follow. This has complex aromatics of spiced plum, mint, camphor, coconut and aniseed. It is rich, intense, layered and long. There’s still substantial grip and tarry notes towards the back-end. It has length to burn and so much more in the tank.