AUSTRALIA
Being an Australian myself, I must confess that I have been wanting to set aside a small section of a sale to showcase the great wines from Down Under for some time. As always one has to wait for the right opportinuty, and over the last six months a number of Australian wines began to appear from some very fine collections, most notably early Grange. As things gathered momentum it became possible for us to able to offer, for the first time outside of Australia, a complete history of Grange. Every vintage from the first, not commercially released, experimental 1951, to the the current "legend in the making" 1998.
Together with this unique offering is a small selection from some of South Australia's other great producers. First and foremost are Stephen and Prue Henschke's single vineyard Shiraz classics, Mount Edelstone and Hill of Grace. From McLaren Vale there are wines from the family estate of d'Arenberg now over a century old and the mighty Fox Creek. From Coonawarra there is the Bordeaux blend, Parker Estate Terra Rossa First Growth, and of course last but not least, the new wave Barossa Valley Shiraz behemoths from Greenock Creek, Veritas, Three Rivers and Torbreck!
Australia is a great and varied wine producing nation rich in history, many of its producers have been around for well over a century. Australia is similar in size to the US, although unlike the US has a number of completely seperate wine growing regions. From Margaret River in Western Australia to Padthaway, Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, McLaren Vale, Eden Valley, Clare Valley all outside of Adelaide in South Australia, to Muscat and Tokay country in Rutherglen, the Yarra Valley, Grampians and Mornington in Victoria and to the Hunter Valley two hours drive from Sydney in New South Wales.
One of the great treasures is the fact that the vine bug Phylloxera which devasted vineyards throughout Europe and the US in the nineteenth century, hadrly got a hold in Australia. Consequently the country now has a fabulous holding of very old ungrafted vines, some around 150 years old.
On offer here are some of the results from these grand old vineyards and buyers should make the most of it as we may not see some of these again, especially the early Grange.
David Wainwright
IMPOTANT NOTE: The wines featured in this section have been sourced from six separate collections. The provenance and condition of which have been closely scrutinized by Christie's Wine Department. They have all been removed from temperature and humidity controlled storage and almost all are in outstanding condition for their age.
Penfolds, Bin 1, Grange Hermitage--Vintage 1951
1 bottle per lot
Details
PENFOLDS GRANGE: 1951 - 1998 THE COMPLETE HISTORY
FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER OUTSIDE OF AUSTRALIA EVERY VINTAGE OF GRANGE.
THIS LIKELY ONE OFF HISTORIC AUCTION HAS EVERY GEM THE GRANGE CONNOISSEUR COULD WISH FOR.
HISTORY
Conceived by Max Schubert, who in 1948 was appointed Chief Red Wine Maker at Penfolds, during a visit to the major wine growing regions of Europe in 1950. Upon his return he wanted to produce a wine that had the capability of ageing and improving over a period of at least 20 years. Due to a lack of commercially available quantities of the Bordeaux grape varieties a decision was taken to use Shiraz. In 1951 an experiment was undertaken to make two different wines. One a control wine which was made in standard 1000 gallon, well seasoned, dry red cask and the other (Grange) to be aged in 5 small new, unseasoned oak barriques for what was to be a total of 18 months.
After the success of this wine, Max Schubert went into production commercially in 1952. A few years later Penfolds head office started to ask questions as to why so much money was lying in the cellars not being sold. Samples from 1951 to 1956 were presented for an assessment by the then Managing Director, friends of the board and top management. As Max himself put it "The results were disatrous." One well known wine critic made the following remark "Schubert, I congratulate you. A very good, dry port, which no one in their right mind will buy, let alone drink." In 1957 just before the vintage, the news came down from head office, production of Grange was to stop.
However, with the help of Jeffrey Penfold Hyland, Max continued on his quest. Production was reduced and as finance was no longer available for new barrels, the best of the old barrels were used. For the next three years through to the 1959 vintage Grange was made behind closed doors. As the earlier vintages began to soften and become more approachable, people began, albeit slowly, to take notice. Finally just prior to the 1960 vintage news reached head office that the wines, were, actually not that bad after all and the green light was given to resume production. The final triumph came in 1962 when Penfolds began entering the 1955 in the nation's wine competitions, the wine broke all records and an avalanche of Gold medals were awarded, over 50 in all.
Australian wine as a whole has much to thank Max Schubert for, indeed we can all learn from the example he has set. As he himself said;
"we must not be afraid to put into effect the strength of our own convictions, continue to use our imagination in wine-making generally, and be prepared to experiment in order to gain something extra, different and unique in the world of wine."
Penfolds, Bin 1, Grange Hermitage--Vintage 1951
South Australia
Level: into neck
See front cover illustration
An experimental wine, this first vintage was not commercially released. Only 160 cases produced. Perhaps one of the rarest wines we will offer this year.
1 bottle per lot
FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER OUTSIDE OF AUSTRALIA EVERY VINTAGE OF GRANGE.
THIS LIKELY ONE OFF HISTORIC AUCTION HAS EVERY GEM THE GRANGE CONNOISSEUR COULD WISH FOR.
HISTORY
Conceived by Max Schubert, who in 1948 was appointed Chief Red Wine Maker at Penfolds, during a visit to the major wine growing regions of Europe in 1950. Upon his return he wanted to produce a wine that had the capability of ageing and improving over a period of at least 20 years. Due to a lack of commercially available quantities of the Bordeaux grape varieties a decision was taken to use Shiraz. In 1951 an experiment was undertaken to make two different wines. One a control wine which was made in standard 1000 gallon, well seasoned, dry red cask and the other (Grange) to be aged in 5 small new, unseasoned oak barriques for what was to be a total of 18 months.
After the success of this wine, Max Schubert went into production commercially in 1952. A few years later Penfolds head office started to ask questions as to why so much money was lying in the cellars not being sold. Samples from 1951 to 1956 were presented for an assessment by the then Managing Director, friends of the board and top management. As Max himself put it "The results were disatrous." One well known wine critic made the following remark "Schubert, I congratulate you. A very good, dry port, which no one in their right mind will buy, let alone drink." In 1957 just before the vintage, the news came down from head office, production of Grange was to stop.
However, with the help of Jeffrey Penfold Hyland, Max continued on his quest. Production was reduced and as finance was no longer available for new barrels, the best of the old barrels were used. For the next three years through to the 1959 vintage Grange was made behind closed doors. As the earlier vintages began to soften and become more approachable, people began, albeit slowly, to take notice. Finally just prior to the 1960 vintage news reached head office that the wines, were, actually not that bad after all and the green light was given to resume production. The final triumph came in 1962 when Penfolds began entering the 1955 in the nation's wine competitions, the wine broke all records and an avalanche of Gold medals were awarded, over 50 in all.
Australian wine as a whole has much to thank Max Schubert for, indeed we can all learn from the example he has set. As he himself said;
"we must not be afraid to put into effect the strength of our own convictions, continue to use our imagination in wine-making generally, and be prepared to experiment in order to gain something extra, different and unique in the world of wine."
Penfolds, Bin 1, Grange Hermitage--Vintage 1951
South Australia
Level: into neck
See front cover illustration
An experimental wine, this first vintage was not commercially released. Only 160 cases produced. Perhaps one of the rarest wines we will offer this year.
1 bottle per lot