Penfolds Grange is produced using a majority of Shiraz (Syrah) grapes and a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon. Considered by many to be Australia’s ‘first growth’, Penfolds Grange has become one of Australia’s most collectible wines.

It was the it was the perseverance and dedication of a winemaker called Max Schubert that lead to the first vintage of Penfolds Grange. Max had toured around Europe in 1950, watching and learning the wine making techniques used in Bordeaux, France. Upon his return to Penfolds in 1951, Schubert made the first vintage of Penfolds Grange, an experimental wine designed to the be the first red wine to rival French red wines in quality and ageing potential.

When Penfolds Grange was first released in 1951, it was in an era where fortified wines were all the rage and Penfolds Grange was left on the shelf, under-appreciated with its true potential unrecognized. Time wound on and a lack of initial sales prompted management to wind down production of Penfolds grange in 1957.
Schubert however continued to produce Penfolds Grange in secrecy through 1959. It was in 1960 that the wines truly began to be appreciated for their quality and aging potential by the wine community. With the increasing popularity, Schubert was instructed to re-start production by management, who were unaware that Schubert had not actually stopped production.

From its first entry into wine competitions in 1962 up until the current day, Penfolds Grange has been performing strongly in wine awards, collecting over 50 gold medals from various judging events, including the Wine Olympics.

The name ‘Hermitage’ was originally used in Australia as a synonym for Shiraz, which was adopted by the Penfolds Grange label. In 1990, the name ‘Hermitage’ was excluded from the label after objections from the European Union for Penfolds using a recognized French region name.

Anyone who has seen a number of grange bottles will also notice that most carry the signature of “Bin 95”. Bin 95 refers to the storage location in the Penfolds winery which has been the same location since 1964. In the first vintage it was housed in Bin 1 and in 1952, Bin 4. In the following vintages, it was housed in various Bins until finding a permanent home in Bin 95.

No other wine in Australia has such a rich and diverse history as Australia’s Penfold Grange.

A number of non-wine drinkers have been thrown by a common misconception about Vintage Wine. Many hold the belief that because it is labeled as a ‘vintage wine’ that it is superior in quality and taste. In the wine industry, a vintage wine is a wine that has been made by grapes grown and collected from one particular season.

The idea may have originated from the producers of Vintage Port in who make ports based off grapes from certain years, which are later analyzed and the ‘good years’ are then decided. These ‘good batches’ are then labeled as ‘Vintage Ports’ by each winery, indicating a particularly good batch.

Vintage wines do share some aspects of the labeling but it is not exactly the same. Like Port, Vintage wines are made using only the grapes from a particular year, however this does not guarantee that the wine will be of higher quality. The usual practice is for the wine to be released and wine critics to discuss and decide over which wines are of high quality over time.

Another surprising fact is that vintage wines do not actually have to be made from 100% of grapes from that year. Some wines originating from South Africa or Chilie are only required to consist of 75% same year grapes.In other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, America and the EU, they are required to be 85% and up.

The other types of wine, which are just called ‘non-vintage’ wines, can be made from grapes form harvests over two or more years. Some wineries use this method to create wines with consistent tastes and quality.

In the past, vintage wines were prized and did have different qualities and tastes according to the years they were grown, however modern farming techniques and irrigation now lets most wineries grow consistent crops, but the debate over quality still continues to this day.