TN: Penfolds Grange 1988.

[Phil Wilkins]

For some reason the entire 1988 upper tier South Australian red wines I’ve <s>tasted</s> consumed recently deems me to believe that it is one of my favourite vintages ever – although for no reason in particular. This Grange is of no exception.

Saturated deep crimson. The nose was, well quite frankly exceptional & multi facetted - showing huge concentration with seductive plum, Christmas cake (havenÂ’t used that descriptor for a while), liquorice, abundant spice, crushed red ants (from my school days in Pt. Moresby, Papua New Guinea -there was that certain scent), earth & oak but in a mineral like(?) sense as opposed to an exotic one. Stunning. The almost full-bodied palate is seamless, generous & seductively ripe, although there is nothing over ripe in this multi-regional grape blend. Follows on with still young but opulent & amazingly structured fruit. Lovely grippy tannins, well placed added acidity & glorious length. Yep, this is a good wine. 13.5%vol

To put a dampener on it though, I preferred the Â’88 HoG (canÂ’t find my note on it though) to this Grange although itÂ’s a completely different wine. If you have any of this Grange there is no need to rush it so enjoy it over the next 10-15 years as it seems now. Too my palate itÂ’s still young but the secondary complexities are starting to poke through. And Grange certainly deserves its reputation as one of the worldÂ’s great wines.

A very generous wine over all & if I <u>had</u> to drink Grange all the time(!) this would be one of them.

Phil