A question on 1982 Grange Hermitage

Am considering opening one of my two remaining bottles tonight with BBQed steaks. Haven't had this for a quite a while so am wondering if it might be getting a bit too old to match up with a hearty steak.

Comments-advice welcomed.

You lucky dog you! I'd opine there are but two ways to answer this. One, open it and find out first-hand. If it's not ruined surely it will match beautifully with a steak. Second, wait, fly to wherever Penfolds is doing their next recorking service - say London, Australia, etc. - and have their experts open it, taste it, evaluate it, top it off with the current vintage and recork it for you. Apparently they have performed this service to almost 100,000 bottles. Astounding!

Must be one helluva good wine to be worth that kind of expense/trouble to have it evaluated and recorked!

You lucky dog you! I'd opine there are but two ways to answer this. One, open it and find out first-hand. If it's not ruined surely it will match beautifully with a steak. Second, wait, fly to wherever Penfolds is doing their next recorking service - say London, Australia, etc. - and have their experts open it, taste it, evaluate it, top it off with the current vintage and recork it for you. Apparently they have performed this service to almost 100,000 bottles. Astounding!

Thanks. Penfolds came to Toronto last year (I think) and I did seriously think of attending but then, stupidly, they scheduled their session for a weekday. It's one thing to drive three hours to Toronto on a weekend, but it's a bit much for me to take a day off work to do it.

Thanks for the advice. Think I will pull the cork tonight.

Must be one helluva good wine to be worth that kind of expense/trouble to have it evaluated and recorked!

Bought it in 1984 at around $70 or $80 (Canadian). Not sure, exactly, what it would go for nowdays, but I would guess in the several hundreds of dollars.

There used to be an easy way to see if your Grange might still be alive as Penfolds used to put their "Rewards of Patience" (a booklet issued at regular intervals which has current tasting notes for many of the wines including all vintages of Grange) on their web site. Unfortunately you have to buy it now. Tasting for the 6th issue was completed in Sept 2007 and the booklet published in Sept 2008 and it contains what may be the last full vintage tasting of Grange. Campbell Mattinson was one of the invited tasters; others include regulars like James Halliday. Mattinson posted his notes on Grange at the end of Nov 2007. He wrote of the 1982: Honey, soy, mint, toffee, lots of attractive sweet-sour character and more than that, a glossy silken mouth perfume that lures you in and keeps you thoroughly entertained. Good power for a cooler styled wine. Almost smells like toffee apples, and has a tangy, apple-like flavour to it too. Beguiling. Exquisite. Filligreed tannin. 93. 2012.

He posted aprevious note on Jan 1 2005 Intensely spicy, raspberried, honeyed wine - incredibly fragrant - with cedar and cranberry scents frollicking throughout. These characteristics work better on the nose than they do in the mouth, yet still it’s as long and impressive as a freight train. Some will love this wine’s fleshy, warm sweetness, others may find it too oddball - but it’s in fine balance. Rated : 91 Points Drink : 1993-2007.

I'd say its time to enjoy it,
Mike

I just happened to drink my last bottle of this on Dec 12 for dinner at Palena in DC (fabulous restaurant, by the way). It is still very much alive, with plenty of fruit but also lots of aged complexity. Still full-bodied enough to stand up to a steak, it went well with the Palena mixed grill, though I actually thought it matched better with their Guinea hen braised with Pomerol, rutabaga, and foie gras. I was sad to see the last one go. I don't think it is destined for further improvement, but I would bet a well-stored bottle will drink well for another 5-10 years.

The bottle was purchased on release and stored in my temp-controlled cellar since. The cork came out in one piece, a little squishy and with wine stains going about 2/3 of the way up the outside, but intact, and the fill was well up into the neck, witin an inch of the cork. Here is my TN:

1982 Penfold's Grange Hermitage: dark red core, lightening at the rim, bit of VA on the nose initially but blows off within 15-20 min, lots of rich fruits - cassis, plums, blackberries, licorice, bit of cedar, medium to full body, ripe fruit on palate, excellent balance, nice complexity on the nose which carries through on the palate and to the finish, fully mature but in no danger of collapse, outstanding.