2014 Penfolds Grange Hermitage
AUSTRALIA / SOUTH AUSTRALIA /
Wine Advocate | Rating: 98
Rich, concentrated and intense, the 2014 Grange delivers exactly what we've come to expect from this Penfolds icon wine. It's full-bodied, velvety in feel and loaded with plummy fruit, framed in vanilla and cedar. Dense, powerful and tannic, it should prove to be long lived, even by Grange standards. Gago doesn't rate the vintage overall that highly, but he says the selection this year for Grange was a bit more stringent and that production levels were just average. There are still over 1,000 cases for the United States.Drink Dates: 2025 - 2050Author: Joe CzerwinskiIssue: October 2018 Penfolds New Releases
Over the past 40 years, Penfolds has earned its reputation as Australia's premier red wine producer and has played a large part in putting Australian wines on the world map. Over the past five years, winemaker Peter Gago has been instrumental in keeping Penfolds at the top of the Austrailian wine industry. Penfolds Grange, the estate's flagship, is characterized by its rich texture, complexity, and concentrated fruit. Penfolds's entire collection spans across many styles and labels including Penfolds Super Premiums, Special Bin Range, Cellar Reserve Range, Bin Range, Thomas Hyland Range, Koonunga Hill Range, Rawson's Retreat Range, and Fortified Wines.
More than half of all Australian wine production takes place in the South Australia region—home to the Shiraz-specializing Barossa Valley as well as revered Riesling zones Clare Valley and Eden Valley. South Australia is too large and diverse to generalize about climate or topography, with both cooler coastal areas and warmer inland sections—but rainfall is generally low throughout and drought is a constant concern.