• 1989 Penfolds Shiraz Grange - Australia, South Australia (2/10/2006)
  first Grange for me
  WHOA baby... opened it around 6pm to take to dinner... blueberries burst from the bottle. double decanted it. almost unnaturally strong smell of blueberry pie/syrup. not much else... well no worries about storage or spoilage...
  
  very dark, no sign of bricking.
  
  reservations about 8:30 opened the bottle and poured 2 glasses. let it sit while we had a half bottle of white burg with appetizers. the smell was still of blueberry and spice, but it was much more structured.
  around 9:15 started to drink it... sooo smooth, no tannins perceivable, the mouthfeel was awesome, complex satin on the tongue (thank you integrated oak), it still had blueberry flavor but it had gained structure and subtle cinnamon and baking type spice flavors. the aroma deepened and while it still had a lot of forward fruit (which we like), it had significant complexity and depth. We could have enjoyed the nose all night...but it tasted too damn good (and the restaurant wanted to close). Nursed it for 1 3/4 to 2 hours. the finish lasted well on into the 30+ second mark and blueberry/cherry cola reemerged at the end.
  
  so tasty....i had read some less than stellar reviews of this wine, but it was a great wine for us. One of the best i have ever had. (96 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

had it with braised short ribs... hmmmm. and wife had lamb. Cordoroy is tasty.

I think Bressler had this wine in the last year or so, but i didn't find a tasting note...

you are right - I am bad. I don't think I've ever had a bottle of the '89 as good as you describe - but, that's one of the things that makes this hobby fun.

well. you have had lots of really good wine that i haven't had the pleasure of tasting, so our relative experiences are quite different. We haven't had any other Grange to compare it to either.

For us, it was fantastic. We had high expectations and it delivered.

That's really all one can hope for when they open a special bottle.