La Grange – The History of Penfolds Top Rated Wine

Penfolds Grange is produced using a majority of Shiraz (Syrah) grapes and a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon. Produced from what many consider to be Australia’s ‘first growth’, Penfolds Grange is regarded to be Australia’s most collectible wine.

It was the hard work, passion and dedication of Max Schubert the lead to the Penfolds Grange that people know today. 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 hit the shelves in 1951 it was to a lukewarm reception being outshone by the popularity of fortified wines at the time. By 1957, Penfolds Grange was still suffering from a lack of sales, causing Penfolds management to cancel future productions of Grange.

Schubert was not phased by management’s decision and continued to secretly manufacture Grange. In 1960, eight years after its first vintage, wine critics began to take notice of the quality of Penfolds Grange. 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.

Penfolds entered their Grange into its first wine competition in 1962 and from that day onwards has collected over 50 gold medals.

Older labels of Penfolds Grange still bear the name ‘Hermitage’ which was originally used in Australia as another term from Shiraz. It was in 1990, after objections form the European Union that Hermitage was a recognized French winemaking region, Penfolds dropped it from the label.

Wine fans who are familiar with Penfolds Grange will also notice a large ‘Bin 95′ stamped on the label. Bin 95 is the storage location of Penfolds Grange, which has been that way since 1964. Initially Penfolds Grange was produced and stored in Bin 1, which was later moved to Bin 4. In the following vintages, it was housed in various Bins until finding a permanent home in Bin 95.

Its easy to see why Penfolds Grange has one of the richest histories of any Australia wine.

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