Grange La Chapelle

[WAwineguy]

So there is now a blend of Penfolds Grange with Paul Jaboulet La Chapelle - 50% Syrah from Barossa, McLaren Vale and Clare, and 50% from the northern Rhone.

ONLY $3500 per bottle. (actually, not really shocked).

Good of them to tell us the blend. So why can't I just mix a bottle of 2020 Grange ($989 from one retailer) with a bottle of 2020 La Chapelle ($535 from another retailer), and I have 2 bottles of the new wine for $762 each? Ok, so they won't have the label on them or the fancy box or the undoubtedly thrilling and compelling story included, but surely those things aren't worth the difference ($2738)? Or perhaps the whole point is, that they are, since this is clearly just a marketing exercise?

(And leaving aside the fact that the first release is 2021).

[Ian S]

I think you understand the concept perfectly.

[saturn5519]

Good ol Penfolds marketing aka TWE at it again.

[Ian S]

Peter Gago will presumably be sent around the globe to promote it. It was something of a surprise at the time when John Duval resigned from the role, but given he said

“They expected me to come up with small volumes of super expensive shiraz, but I wanted to build a base for the business and make wines accessible to people as well….Then I could have a bit of fun with small selections for the top end of the market.”

he clearly didn't want to become a marketing tool for this sort of product.

[felixp21]

Penfolds have become the poster child for greed in the wine industry.

Their products have gradually declined in quality over the decades, but you'd think they are the greatest wines on earth... a tribute to their marketing, which is now identical to the big-house champagnes, who laughably sell pretty much swill for over $100 a bottle, and sell it because some race driver or jockey is pouring it over his head.

Put any Grange since the mid-80's in a blind tasting and see how you go.... yet to critics are falling over themselves to say how wonderful the stuff is.
Similar story for Bin 707, priced at a level close to most FG's in Bordeaux.
Who can forget the idiotic drool about the 2010 St Henri .... gee, what a co-incidence that this 100 point wine was released at the height of the Chinese Australian wine boom. Good to see the critics offering full disclosure over that debacle lols. Still, every profession has its unscrupulous members.

Although I no longer live in China, I keep in close contact with friends over there, and it is very clear the Australian wine bubble has burst, as it did in America 20 years ago.

So the latest Penfolds stunt is aimed at selling the stuff to a market that buys markedly less Australian products, by saying " look we know it's expensive, but wow, its half French and and therefore is the greatest wine in the world"
Goodness, how pathetic is this. I'd imagine it will go the same way as that very ordinary effort of Penfolds in the Napa.

My annoyance of this whole joke is that I still feel there is a racist element at play, as I have always felt with Penfolds foray into China, in that someone in their marketing department genuinely believes rich Chinese people are stupid.

My money says this is just another idiotic stunt that will completely flop.

[Alan Foo]

Penfolds have become the poster child for greed in the wine industry.

Their products have gradually declined in quality over the decades, but you'd think they are the greatest wines on earth... a tribute to their marketing, which is now identical to the big-house champagnes, who laughably sell pretty much swill for over $100 a bottle, and sell it because some race driver or jockey is pouring it over his head.

Put any Grange since the mid-80's in a blind tasting and see how you go.... yet to critics are falling over themselves to say how wonderful the stuff is.
Similar story for Bin 707, priced at a level close to most FG's in Bordeaux.
Who can forget the idiotic drool about the 2010 St Henri .... gee, what a co-incidence that this 100 point wine was released at the height of the Chinese Australian wine boom. Good to see the critics offering full disclosure over that debacle lols. Still, every profession has its unscrupulous members.

Although I no longer live in China, I keep in close contact with friends over there, and it is very clear the Australian wine bubble has burst, as it did in America 20 years ago.

So the latest Penfolds stunt is aimed at selling the stuff to a market that buys markedly less Australian products, by saying " look we know it's expensive, but wow, its half French and and therefore is the greatest wine in the world"
Goodness, how pathetic is this. I'd imagine it will go the same way as that very ordinary effort of Penfolds in the Napa.

My annoyance of this whole joke is that I still feel there is a racist element at play, as I have always felt with Penfolds foray into China, in that someone in their marketing department genuinely believes rich Chinese people are stupid.

My money says this is just another idiotic stunt that will completely flop.

Well said

[phillisc]

Felix, I have a different take. The attraction to the Chinese market is that the simple facts are a massive population which means potentially a massive number of buyers, billionaire's or otherwise. Can't see that they think that's silly, more to the point that it's certain that they will sell a few bottles. Just like LV will sell a few handbags, Rolex a few watches.
Whilst not racism, Pennies have given it to the domestic market, expecting Australians to happily bend over and take one. They have certainly fucked us over big time, Gago with his silly little grin. From about the time of 1986 Kalimna, which is one of the best wines in many a day, Penfolds thought it very appropriate to begin the gouge, which is in its 4th decade now.
Apart from Magill and St Henri, which I used to get at trade price, I haven't brought anything else, not that in recent times has there been anything else worth buying.
I'm certainly not in the market that Pennies are targeting, it's young affable impressionable types with deep pockets, whether that be those in China, the USA or anywhere else.
Cheers Craig

PS. I agree 100% about everything you have said in reference to overrated, expensive one-off bottlings, hope it falls over. The next thing will be Grange under screw cap...like the many years of the above wine being trialled, so too for Grange.

[Chuck]

I haven't bought Pennies for decades. Tried a Bin 389 a few years ago and it was so so. A nice ok wine, underwhelming, and definitely not worth the price. The competition has caught up and is intense particularly with the current glut.

[JamieAdelaide]

Good ways to introduce a little Brett-like complexity into Grange.