The Auswine Forum

I noticed something odd today.

I recently bought 4 bottles of Grange, all from the same place - 91, 94, 96 and 97.

The 1991 and 1997 seem to have more of a slightly whiter front and back label, while the 1994 and 1996 are more grey.

More oddly though is that the 1991 has a dedication to Max Schubert on it (1915-1994) - is that because these get labelled upon release??

Nick Wine Guy wrote:I noticed something odd today.

I recently bought 4 bottles of Grange, all from the same place - 91, 94, 96 and 97.

The 1991 and 1997 seem to have more of a slightly whiter front and back label, while the 1994 and 1996 are more grey.

More oddly though is that the 1991 has a dedication to Max Schubert on it (1915-1994) - is that because these get labelled upon release??

Nick, Max Schubert, winemaker of Grange from 1951 to about 1970s?? (Davoren and Bird were in there somewhere before John Duval took over) died in March 1994. I assume that the 91 is the first release after his death, and released then in May (current release is now in October), this would have been an opportunity to commemorate his life.
There are far more serious Pennies fans on here than myself, so they should be able to confirm this.

Cheers Craig.

Thanks, Craig - figured they'd be labelled as the time they came out of the barrel and we're bottled, but I guess not.

Nick Wine Guy wrote:Thanks, Craig - figured they'd be labelled as the time they came out of the barrel and we're bottled, but I guess not.

I am no expert on this but the couple of operations I have seen labelling is done just before release, after the bottle maturation. Makes sense I guess, a little less money tied up and less chance that the label degrades or is damaged while in their care