WTN: Penfolds Grange 1979

[Really Nice!]

Was going through my tasting notes and found something you might like to read. This dinner was August 14, 2001.

Rack of Lamb

Pan roasted potatoes

Green salad

Wine: Penfolds Grange 1979

Start preparation in reverse order

Green Salad

romaine lettuce

croutons

yellow pepper

heirloom tomato

bacon

orange

dressing

mustard

sugar

salt and pepper

celery seed

mustard

vinegar

evo

Pan Roasted Potatoes

russets

thyme

oregano

parsley

sage

onion

Pan fry in oil/butter

finish in oven while lamb is resting

add herbs last two minutes of cooking

Rack of Lamb

Crust:

bread crumbs

rosemary

garlic

basil

mint

evo

Sear lamb on meat side; 2 minutes

Pat with crust

Roast in 425F oven 11 minutes pound

Remove of oven; cover with foil; let rest 10 minutes

Wine: Penfolds Grange 1979

Visual

Surface: brilliant

Color: black cherry

Legs: very slight

Olfactory

Aroma intensity: powerful

Quality: extraordinary

Character: fruity, vegetal, spicy, animal

Length: long (40 seconds or longer)

Gustatory

Sweetness: dry

Acidity: nondetectible

Alcohol: almost nondetectible

Softness: thick

Astringency: flowing

Body: full

Reflective Sensations

05 min: black currant

10 min: black currant

15 min: black cherry

20 min: blueberry / plum

25 min: spicy

35 min: clove / chocolate

45 min: oak / citrus / pear

60 min: vanilla

70 min: woody

80 min: leather

95 min: Grandma's house! <- or inside an antique furniture store

105 min: Grandma's house

115 min: mushroom

120 min: old wood floors

Finish: Lovely and lingering

Overall Feel: Warm

Additional comments

Sniff this slowly. This stuff is inhalable. The wine keeps going and going. It doesn't die. Two hours after first pour and it wont' stop. Intoxicating and mesmerizing. The glass fills the entire olfactory epithelium. An immense array of aromas. The flavors don't decline, they evolve and change from one Sensation to the next. Even the glass the next morning, which had maybe 1/2 teaspoon of wine left, had immense power.

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So that's what I wrote. The amazing thing about this wine was how the flavors evolved. Each sip from that first minute to past two hours would give more than 40 seconds of finish. The flavors would change but the persistence didn't. We didn't decant it, rather we let it decant in the glass. I think we spent the first 15 minutes just sniffing it. It was weird getting citrus and pear from a red wine, but that's what we got. Somewhere near the 95 minute mark both my girlfriend and I blurted out, "Antique Furniture!". It reminded us of the antique stores in Snohomish, just outside of Seattle.

An even better tasting note comes from the 1981 Penfolds Grange. Unfortunately, I can’t find them at the moment. Guess I’ll have to go into the inventory and write a new one.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Penfold's: the wine of legend

A PRECIOUS wine made by the legendary Max Schubert has been ranked as one of the 10 greatest wines made.

The August edition of the highly-regarded Decanter magazine lists the 1962 Penfolds Bin 60A Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon Kalimna Shiraz as the seventh greatest wine of all time.  It is included in a list of the "100 Wines to Try Before You Die". Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago said to be named in the Top 10 wines in a magazine of Decanter's calibre was an outstanding accolade for South Australian wine. "Recognition in a list of the `Top 10 Greatest Wines of All Time' puts Australian wines alongside the legendary great wines of the world," Mr Gago said.

Is it really so good that one can say of it "100 Wines to Try Before You Die"??

[Really Nice!]

'"This wine laid the ground for the revolution in Australian winemaking that followed," the Decanter magazine said.'

This wine laid the ground?!?!

Wow!