Winery: Penfolds
Region: Barossa Valley
Variety: Mourvèdre, Shiraz, Grenache
Vintage: NV
Your Wine Guy says:
Great Grandfather Rare Tawny is Penfolds’ rarest wine; only 1000 bottles are available each release.
The magnificent Penfolds Great Grandfather is an intense deep Tawny with that classic aged olive green hue at the edge of the glass. The nose is intensely concentrated with an amazing combination of toffee, spice, butterscotch and intense fruit framed by fine oak. The palate delights with exceptional complexity of fruits and aged rancio notes with an outstandingly long finish. Go on, spoil yourself with some of the world’s best.
97 Points YWG
Critics say:
“Even more perfumed and compelling than the Grandfather is the profound Great Grandfather Tawny Liqueur. From a much older Solera, it undeniably ratchets up the level of quality. This brilliant fortified is remarkably light on its feet given its massive richness. Thank good winemaking, great natural extract, and zesty acidity for keeping this wine fresh in spite of its huge residual sweetness and power.”
96 Points Robert Parker - Wine Advocate
“Rich, but by no means heavy; great balance rancio and fruit; long and very fine; superbly balanced.”
96 Points James Halliday Wine Companion
The winemaker says:
Colour: An extremely dark mahogany brown with an intense olive green tinge.
Nose: The nose is extremely intense and complex with raisined fruit, toffee and malt aromas long since integrated with nutty aged rancio, vanillin oak and subtle spirit.
Palate: The palate clearly demonstrates its great age and quality with incredible intensity of flavour, viscosity and length matched to elegance and finesse. The wine has a perfect harmony of rich developed fruit flavours, aged rancio complexity and a slightly drying finish. Peter Gago - Penfolds Chief Winemaker
Winery/Label Information:
Penfolds has a long tradition of fortified wine production, dating back to its origins in the mid-1800s. Many of these beautifully concentrated and complex Tawnies are now living history, with material stretching back decades.
Since 2009 Penfolds Tawnies have been named in accordance with the Australian Wine Industry’s Fortified Wine Code of Practice. This code provides a framework for winemakers to benchmark their styles against defined descriptors and to describe their wines using industry-wide classifications. Penfolds Great Grandfather and Grandfather carry the ‘Rare’ designation, meaning their average age is in excess of fifteen years. Bluestone Grand has an average age greater than ten years, whilst Club Reserve has an average age greater than five years.
With an average age of over fifteen years, Penfolds Great Grandfather Rare Tawny is refined and possesses an incredible intensity of flavour.
In 1844 Christopher Rawson Penfold planted vines on the slopes of Magill to produce fortified wines. This tradition now dates back over 165 years.
Penfolds Great Grandfather Rare Tawny, a special blend of the finest and oldest components of Grandfather Tawny, was first introduced in 1994 to celebrate Penfolds’ 150th anniversary. Great Grandfather, blended from exceptional aged Solera (a stacked blending system) material, contains the oldest parcels from the Solera.
Each year winemakers draw one-twelfth of each barrel from the lowest level of the Solera. The barrel is then topped up from the barrel sitting above it and the process is complete when the barrels on the highest level are one-twelfth empty.
This wine is immensely complex and powerful. The maturation Grandfather style relies on a fuller spirit for fortification and extended small old oak maturation to gain overall complexity and optimum balance.
Great Grandfather Rare Tawny is Penfolds’ rarest wine; only 1000 bottles are available each release. The first release, in 1994, deliberately comprised 1994 bottles. – Penfolds Wines
A trade agreement with the EU has been reached that will phase out the use of the terms ‘Port’ and ‘Tokay’ from Australian wine labels as they are now protected designation of origin trademarks specific to the countries of Portugal (exclusive to the Douro Valley in the north) and Hungary (exclusive to Tokaji east of Budapest) respectively.– YWG |