1967 Penfolds Grange Hermitage
Drinking Window: Now – 2015
Deep brick red. Cedar/chocolate box/blackberry/leafy aromas with hints of liquorice. A rich, ripe wine with blackberry/spicy/mocha fruit and fine leafy loose-knit tannins. Finishes chalky and firm but with excellent flavour, length.
94% Shiraz 6%, Cabernet Sauvignon. Kalimna Vineyard (Barossa Valley), Barossa Valley, Clare Valley and Magill Estate (Adelaide). A warm, dry growing season. Won the Jimmy Watson Trophy at the Melbourne Wine Show. A generally dry growing season followed by a warm vintage.
Notes sourced from Southcorp Wines.
Grape Varieties: A blend of 94% Shiraz & 6% Cabernet Sauvignon the fruit was sourced from Magill (Adelaide), Clare Valley & Kalimna (Barossa Valley).
Total acids: 5.8 grams per litre. Alcohol:12.7% pH: 3.62
Vintage Conditions: Fairly dry growing season followed by a warm vintage.
Tasting Notes:size> First vintage to use Clare Valley grapes. Won the Jimmy Watson Trophy for best one-year-old dry red at the 1968 Melbourne Wine Show. Thought of as a lighter style because it spent less time in oak. Max Schubert considered it under-rated and excellent. Rated 91/100 points by Robert Parker in 1990.
Colour: strong purple-red. Bouquet: strong minty/camphor oak although the fruit is still a little closed. Palate: very good balance; rich fruit in typical style and nicely balanced tannin. A complete wine, drinking very well. (James Halliday, National Times, Nov. 1982)
Elegant, attractive, sweet fruit/oak. Good balance, drinking superbly. (Rewards of Patience, 1st ed., 1985)
Gamey, mellow, but firm wine -- still some way from its peak. (Ultimate Grange Experience, Nov. 1994)
"Medium brick red. Sweet complex and intense stocky/ truffle- like aromas. Developed palate with ripe, concentrated, meaty/ chocolate- like flavours, silky tannin structure and long finish. Well balanced but drink soon." (Southcorp Wines, The Rewards of Patience, Fourth Edition, March 2000)