Penfolds - Grange - 1998 - Magnum

A wine that flirts with perfection, and should rival the 1986 as one of the legendary Granges produced, the 1998 has one of the highest alcohol contents (nearly 15%) as well as one of the highest percentages of Shiraz in the blend (97%). Its stunning purple color is accompanied by exceptionally sweet aromas of blackberry liquerfection. It should continue to evolve over the next three decades. 98+ Points/Drink 2009-2039 - Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate The temptation must have been to create a monster and while there’s plenty of weighty, black, aniseedy fruit here, the salaciousness is entirely less aggressive than you’d expect. In short, it’s curvaceous but considered; it’s full of saturated, plummy fruit that somehow has proven almost totally porous to the best-of-the-best new American oak. At this early stage complexity is no great issue and yet there’s an array of fruit flavours already showing: bright, crushed cranberry, dense blackberry, licorice, raisins, woodspice and a hiss of blueberry, with a spit-and-polish of sweet smoky milk chocolate flavour. It’s like a bigger version of the 1998 St Henri, with oak a lot less prominent than you’d expect. 97 Points/Drink 2012-2026 - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front