The Auswine Forum

1975 Grange
Well bugger me, here I was thinking this would be the lesser of the two Granges we consumed on the night but it blew everything else away. This bottle was in perfect condition. Cellared from the date of purchase, it had no ullage; cork was sound and the wine itself was just awesome. We drank this over a 4 hour period, most in the beginning but we kept some aside to benchmark everything else against it. This wine just slipped down. Brilliant colour, with barely any traces of brown. Wonderful seductive and complex, ‘gently’ aged, in a lively, not past it sense, wine, wonderful seductive flavours, it has all come together beautifully, a real treat, at its absolute peak. 19.5

I know 1975 is supposed to be a "lesser" year for Grange, but 3 years ago I opened one in perfect condition, which stands out as my "best ever" red. The complexity, harmony, length - everything that you hang out for and strike so rarely. Its companion bottle, opened a few months later, was unfortunately just a faded skeleton of the other one. You could see what it had been, but the flesh had wasted from the bones. Still, one bottle of perfection makes up for all the others!

Not sure 75 is a "lesser" year but agree lovely wine.

For the last decade or so, I have maintained that if you can't get the 1971, the 1975 Grange is the next best for current drinking.

It was not highly rated on release (but I differed even then). I will conced it is not a "great Grange" (53, 63, 66, 71, 83 arguably,86, 90, 91, 98 with 96 & 99 likely to rate) but it is right at the top of the next group.

Note of the "greats" nominated above you would have to be lucky with teh 53, 63 & 66 - while the 71 costs more than twice as much if you have to go into the secondary market!

Now there is no room for improvement int he 75 but if you want to drink a really good mature Grange, this is the relative vfm (and yes I actually had to pay just under $17 on release....big increase from the 1971)...

fred

I am finding that with Grange, perfect cellaring has a lot more to do with how the wine tastes than whether it was a highly rated vintage.

I have had the 1968 twice in the last six months from perfectly cellared bottles and they tasted great.

One time it was paired with both the 75. and 76, although the 75 was good the 1976 was brilliant!

From everything I heard, the 1975 wasn't neccesarily a 'bad' year... just one with quite alot of bottle variation... seems like you got one of the good ones.

I had the 1968 Grange and he 1973 Lakes Folly and they were tried together.
They looked soft smooth and enjoyable.
I reckon if I put them near a 1971 Grange they probably would have looked a bit light on- but I enjoyed them.

The 1968 that I had was still dark in colour.

The nose was similar to vintage port with lot's of currants and spice.

The palate was very smooth with a nice dry finish.

It was not huge in statue but still held remarkable balance.

I expected this wine to be quite dried out but it wasn't.

I am starting to think that providence is the key to drinking cellared wines.

Anonymous wrote:

I am starting to think that providence is the key to drinking cellared wines.

Snap

Had it last week.

1975 Penfolds Grange
Mid red with no browning. Exceptional condition for age (stunning fill level well into neck). Bouquet is full on leather, spice, high toned VA, medium oak which subsided with time, some dirty hessian bag. Bit of a brute compared side by side with 82 Grange, but preferred the nose here. Palate is big, tannic, savoury, extracted and firm. Very good length. With time, got quite bretty and hard. Nice wine, no doubt about it.
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