🏰An Australian icon and the "pinnacle of the Penfolds release," the 2019 Grange is an epic, age-worthy wine showcasing a powerful blend of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, matured in new American oak, delivering a complex symphony of dark fruits, spices, and savory notes. The 2019 Grange is 97% Shiraz and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, matured for 19 months in 100% new American oak hogsheads. Chief winemaker Peter Gago considers 2019 a "sleeper vintage," urging patience, as it's a wine with 40 to 50 years of aging potential. 2019 was a hot year with low yields, resulting in big, dark, and compressed wines. It displays a deep crimson color with familiar characters of deep black berry fruits, plum compote, and black cherry, underscored with hints of baking spices, Calvados, espresso grounds, black olive tapenade, roasting meats, creamy oak, purple flowers, and earth. Ripe, fleshy flavors of black cherry, maraschino cherry, and framboise give way to date-nut bread, salted bittersweet chocolate, marzipan, dried olive, green peppercorn, French-press coffee, and cardamom. The palate is mighty: bold, chewy espresso oak char overlaying ripe blackberries, plum pudding, rosemary, cured meat, and balancing acidity. It is weighty and concentrated with classic Grange density of fruit and tannin, persistent, texturally flexing, and long of finish. 🍴 Given its intensity and structure, it would pair magnificently with rich, slow-cooked red meats, game, or intensely flavored hard cheeses. 🥂 A collector's dream, perfect for a significant milestone celebration, a luxurious dinner, or as an investment for future enjoyment.