2001 Penfolds Grange Magnum (1500ml)

Grange is both Penfolds and arguably Australia's most famous wine and is officially listed as a Heritage Icon of South Australia. Grange boasts an unbroken line of vintages from the experimental 1951 and clearly demonstrates the synergy between shiraz and the soils and climate of South Australia.

Penfolds Grange displays fully-ripe, intensely-flavoured and textured shiraz grapes in combination with new American oak. The result is a unique Australian style that is now recognised as one of the most consistent of the world's great wines. The Grange style is the original and most powerful expression of Penfolds multi-vineyard, multi-district blending philosophy.

Regional Source:
100% BarossaValley.

Vintage Conditions:
Good winter rains and soil moisture levels led to a very good early growing season. Growth was vigorous and flowering was successful however the onset of exceptional heat in January depleted soil moisture, and vineyards without water suffered. Rain in mid-March provided relief and vineyards produced shiraz with excellent, ripe fruit flavours.

Grape Variety:
Shiraz (Syrah)

Maturation:
This wine was aged for 17 months in new American oak hogsheads.

Tasting Notes:
Deep, dark and dense, retaining bright purple hues. The nose is immediately Grange, revealing barrel ferment complexities soaked in dark berried fruits. Vibrant, youthful and lifted, a mix of tightly packed liquorice, freshly tanned leather and dark spices create a poised, controlled and distinctive wine. A rich, full-flavoured and concentrated wine with complex rum/raisin dark chocolate, liquorice, quince paste and dried fruit notes. Prominent, well integrated tannins align with oak (all but soaked up by the fruits) to create a lingering continuum of flavours and tactile persistence. Beautifully balanced, this 100% Barossa wine delivers the expectations demanded of a Grange from this vintage.

Other Reviews….
Deep purple. Very elemental blackberry/raspberry/eau-de-vie aromas and sweet malt/savoury oak. A strikingly rich, concentrated wine with deep-set musky blackberry/dark chocolate fruit flavours, underlying savoury oak and ripe smooth tannins. Finishes long and sweet. Immaculately balanced wine. Almost certainly a great Grange. 14.5% alcohol
The Rewards of Patience (5^th Edition)

It is extraordinary how this wine has gained power, weight and complexity since first bottled; now majestic black fruits, licorice and chocolate / mocha notes run through the palate.  Great tannins sustain and support the back-palate and finish. 
Rating 96
Drink 2030
James Halliday - 2007 Australian Wine Companion

It is always a treat to taste Australia’s most famous wine, Penfolds’ Grange cuvee (the word Hermitage has been dropped because of legal issues). The 2001 Grange is one of the few vintages of this cuvee to be composed of 100% Shiraz (the others being 1951, 1952, 1963, 1999, and 2000). Aged 17 months in 100% American oak, and tipping the scales at 14.5% alcohol, the 2001 is undeniably one of the top examples of this wine. At this stage, it appears to eclipse the 1998 and 1996. Inky/blue/purple to the rim, with a stunning perfume of blueberries, blackberries, chocolate, graphite, and earth, it boasts good acidity, huge tannins, magnificent concentration, and a multilayered, textured mouthfeel. It is a big, but impeccably well-balanced Shiraz that should shed some of its structure and tannin over the next 4-5 years, and be at its best between 2010-2030+.
98 points
Robert Parker - Wine Advocate #167 (Oct 2006)