1997 Penfolds Grange Hermitage

A vintage, we were told, that was 'overshadowed by huge years on each side'. It may have been overshadowed for years, but it is just great right now! Seductive texture, like sea-polished driftwood. Cedar and dark fruit and graphite and iron and touch of wild thyme. Very elegant. Shadowy but a wine with subtle strength. Early-morning campfire. Smoke and pepper. Perhaps the least rich of the five Grange vintages, but the one wine where port-sweet fruit stepped back to allow so much more complexity of herb and spice to come to the fore. I thought that this was quite special. And so lovely for drinking now. (TC)

The 1997 Grange (a blend of 96% Shiraz and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon) looks to be a classic Grange, although slightly softer and more forward than the backward 1996. The saturated purple-colored 1997 offers a gorgeously sweet nose of blackberry liqueur, cherries, camphor, chocolate, plums, and mocha. The wine is opulently-textured, extremely soft, layered, and seductive, with Grange's tell-tale personality well-displayed, but in a seamless, seductive style. This is a superb Grange that can hold its own against the more heralded 1996. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2022. Importer: Southcorp Wines, The Americas, Napa, CA; tel. (707) 258-8755