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Coonawarra graziers have access to the finest soils for viticulture. Doug Balnaves was born in the very heart of Coonawarra, quite near the sacred cricket pitch at Penola. An accomplished herdsman and shearer, Balnaves took up the challenge of planting vineyards in 1971. Working under the tutelage of legendary Coonawarra winemaker Bill Redman, Balnaves immersed himself in the culture of the vine, ultimately establishing a grande marque of Coonawarra and securing the inaugural presidency of the Coonawarra Vignerons Association. He remains a lifelong member of the Penola Pipe Band. For those who like their wines structured yet satin, powerful yet prettily.. The old sheep shearer's shanty»
Jim Barry was a pioneer of the Australian wine industry, the first academically qualified winemaker to take up Clare Valley viticulture in 1949. He had an uncanny intuition for good land and established some of the most illustrious vineyards on the continent. Jim Barry is also a patriarch of the Coonawarra, in pursuit of the perfect terroir for Cabernet Sauvignon, he planted vines on the ancient Penola Cricket Oval, preserving the original pavilion for posterity. Jim Barry endures as one of the nation's most distinguished brands, renowned throughout the world of wine for decades of the most remarkable vintages, an evolving range of superior vineyard editions,.. Salient statements from superior sites»
Heirloom Vineyards were born of love. A romance between an esteemed wine judge and his protege, consumated by a shared passion to preserve the integrity of venerable old vineyards. A deference for the sanctity of the soil and adherence to the timeless procedures of organic viticulture, were an integral part of the vision. Their parching quest, to secure some grand old blocks of vine in the elder precincts of Adelaide Hills, Coonawarra, Barossa and Valley Eden, were followed by years of corrective husbandry, pencil label releases and bespoke vintages. The fostered old vines have now been resurrected, yielding treasured harvests of the most sublime new world.. Serenading sleeping vineyards to life»
An illustrious national marque which defines the statuesque Margaret River style, the Cabernet Merlot concords of Voyager Estate are distinguished by their compelling presence of fruit, seductive seamlessness, limousine oak and stately tannins. Representing fiendish value for entry into the eminent house of Voyager, Girt By Sea affords the majesty of Margaret River for every enthusiast in the land, at a prudent &.. The generosity of margaret river cabernet merlot that just keeps on giving»

Penfolds Grange 1998 CONFIRM 1998 VINTAGE

Penfolds Grange 1998 - Buy
Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon Barossa Padthaway Adelaide South Australia
Grange is both Penfolds and Australia's most famous wine and is officially listed as a heritage icon of South Australia. An exceptional vintage, 1998 remains a superbly balanced and sumptuous wine, with all the hallmarks of a great, long-living Grange.
Predominantly Shiraz (97%) with a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon (3%) from the Penfolds Kalimna and other Barossa Vineyards, with proportions from Padthaway and Magill Estate. Cool spring weather followed by a warm summer and very low rainfall created one of the classic vintages of the last two decades. Fruit quality was outstanding with incredible intensity of flavour, fine tannins and structure. The 1998 vintage of Penfolds Grange ranks amongst the very finest released. James Halliday described it as
Beautifully perfumed and exotic, opulently rich and seductive plum/apricot/ blackfruit/meaty flavours with toasty/malty/savoury oak and fine velvety sweet tannins. Winemaker comments by Peter Gago. Bright, almost impenetrable dark red. The nose is youthful and intense with dark, ripened Satsuma plum fruits rising above a base of liqueured dark chocolate and licorice. Overtones of malt, toasty barrel ferment and nutty oak meld effortlessly into an exquisitely aromatic offering. The palate displays intense layering of fruit - raspberry, blackcurrant and blackberry - laced with licorice and oak. The power of the fruit at the fore is balanced with ripe velvety tannins, offering an alluring even-textured palate with remarkable length.
Penfolds
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Penfolds
Penfolds was founded by a young English doctor who migrated to one of his country's most distant colonies a century and a half ago

Dr Christopher Rawson Penfold was born in 1811, the youngest of 11 children. He studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, graduating in 1838. Like many doctors before and since, Dr Penfold had a firm belief in the medicinal value of wine. Before he left Britain he had obtained vine cuttings from the south of France and these were planted around the site of the modest stone cottage he built with his wife, Mary, at Magill on the outskirts of Adelaide in 1845. The couple called this house The Grange, after Mary's home in England.

Penfolds

Dr Penfold built up his medical practice and made fortified wines - port and sherry - for his patients. As the demand for their wine grew, the Penfolds expanded the vineyards and increased production.

Following Dr Penfold's death in 1870, the vineyards and winery continued to be very capably run by Mary Penfold, who had been fundamental in their establishment and development from the very beginning. The scale of Mary's success some 35 years after the company's small beginnings, is indicated by records showing that 107,000 gallons (close to 500,000 litres) of wine were stored at Magill in 1881. This quantity was said to represent one-third of all wine stored in South Australia at the time. By the turn of the century, the area under vine at Magill had grown to 50 ha (120 acres) and Penfolds was fast becoming a household name.

As well as the Magill vineyard surrounding the original winery, there are Penfolds vineyards in the Barossa Valley, home of the world renowned Kalimna and Koonunga Hill vineyards. Vineyards are also owned in the Clare Valley, the Eden Valley (higher up and adjacent to the Barossa), McLaren Vale just south of Adelaide, and in Padthaway and Coonawarra in the far south-east of the state. Grapes are also purchased under long-term contracts from all premium areas in South Australia. Additionally the company has developed vineyards and growers in the emerging premium wine regions of Robe and Bordertown.

Penfolds

The Magill Vineyard is Penfolds spiritual home, the site where Penfolds Wines was founded in 1844. Since the 1970s the land has been subject to the pressures of urban development and today just 5.2 ha (12.5 acres) of Shiraz vines remain, surrounding the Grange cottage. The grapes are used to produce Magill Estate Shiraz, the only wine still produced at the historic Magill winery.

The soil is fertile red-brown earth and the climate is generally warm. The oldest vines were planted in 1951 and the most recent in 1985. On average the Magill Vineyard yields about 40 tonnes of grapes. Kalimna is mostly planted to Shiraz and Cabernet, and produces the base, or motherwine, for Grange. The vineyard is located at the northern end of the Barossa, 4km (2.5 miles) north of Nuriootpa. The mature parts of the Kalimna vineyard were planted in the 1940s and 1950s.

There are gnarled, century-old Cabernet vines on the Golf Course Block - also called Block 42 - that sprawl, untrellised, over the ground and provide high-intensity fruit for Bin 707. In 1973 a 30ha block 5km north-east of Kalimna in the Barossa Valley, was selected and purchased by then Penfolds Chief Winemaker Max Schubert. It was planted two-thirds to Shiraz and one-third to Cabernet Sauvignon. The Koonunga Hill vineyard contributes to Penfolds red wines such as Grange, Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon, Bin 389 Cabernet, Shiraz, St Henri Shiraz and Kalimna Bin 28 Shiraz. Average yield is between four and six tonnes per hectare or about 1.5 to 2.5 tons per acre.

Penfolds invested in the Clare region, about 130km (80 miles) north of Adelaide, in the-late 1970s, at the recommendation of Max Schubert. The vineyards are now established and contribute to a number of premium wines, including the Penfolds Organic red wine. In Max Schubert, Don Ditter, John Duval and Peter Gago, Penfolds have nurtured four of Australia's great winemakers, who have passed the baton of responsibility for crafting Australia's most famous wines down through the past five decades.

Penfolds