Penfolds Grange 2017

A wine born in secret

Grange began with one man's trip abroad. Max Schubert joined Penfolds as a messenger boy in 1930 and, by the company's account, was made chief winemaker in 1948 at the age of 33. In 1950 Penfolds sent him to Europe to study winemaking, and in the cellars of Bordeaux he formed the idea of an Australian red 'capable of staying alive for a minimum of twenty years,' in the words the company quotes today.

Back in Adelaide in 1951 he made the first experimental Grange from Shiraz grown at Magill Estate and Morphett Vale, naming it after the Penfold family home, Grange Cottage. Wikipedia records that 1,800 bottles of that first vintage were produced and that they were largely given away. The 1952 was the first vintage sold commercially.

The wine was not an instant hit. It was a powerful dry red at a time when fortified wines were in fashion, and after poor reviews Penfolds management ordered Schubert to stop making it in 1957. He carried on anyway, hiding three vintages in the Magill cellars between 1957 and 1959. A second tasting in 1960, when the older bottles had gained some age, turned opinion around, and Grange was endorsed soon after.

Four custodians and a changed label

Grange has passed through a short line of chief winemakers. Schubert retired in 1975 and handed it to Don Ditter, who had joined Penfolds in 1950 and ran the cellars until 1986. John Duval followed. He was twice named Red Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine Challenge in London, in 1991 and 2000, and he also led the project that produced Penfolds' white counterpart, Yattarna, first released with the 1995 vintage. Peter Gago took over in 2002 and made the 2017.

For decades the label read 'Grange Hermitage,' because Australians used Hermitage, the name of a French appellation, as another word for Shiraz. The word came off with the 1990 vintage after objections from European Union authorities to the use of a French place name. That same 1990 vintage was later named Wine Spectator's wine of the year for 1995, a turning point in Grange's international reputation.

Ownership changed hands several times above the cellar. Brewing and wine groups bought and merged Penfolds through the 1980s and 1990s; Foster's Group took over the brand in 2005, and in May 2011 Foster's wine brands, Penfolds among them, were spun off as Treasury Wine Estates, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

2017: a cool, late year

The 2017 growing season broke a run of drought. The Wine & Spirits review describes plentiful winter rains and few summer heat spikes, and the Halliday Wine Companion's South Australia vintage report says the Barossa had life-giving winter and spring rain and picked about a month later than in 2016. The report compares 2017 with 2002 as very cool, late vintages, set against a hot, early 2016. High yields had to be controlled.

Penfolds builds Grange from many vineyards rather than one site, so each year's map changes. In 2017 only two regions made the cut. The Wine Advocate's review puts the split at 86% Barossa Valley and 14% McLaren Vale, and notes that Shiraz from the other South Australian regions failed to make the grade. James Suckling reported that 2017 was cooler across all South Australian regions.

With no Cabernet Sauvignon worthy of the blend, the 2017 became 100% Shiraz, something Decanter counted only six times before: the experimental 1951, then 1952, 1963, 1999, 2000 and 2011. Suckling pointed out that 2011 was also a cool, rain-marked season. Penfolds describes its Grange method as partial barrel fermentation and 18 to 20 months in American oak; reviewers of the 2017 all mention its 100% new American oak.

A seventieth birthday, and a forward Grange

The 2017 was the centerpiece of the Penfolds Collection 2021, launched worldwide on August 5, 2021, at AU$950 a bottle, according to Decanter. The celebrations began earlier. At a dinner at the Magill Estate Restaurant on June 23, 2021, Penfolds poured one Grange from each of six decades, and visiting media were shown a barred cellar holding 78 American oak barrels of the 2020 vintage, a stash Decanter put at about AU$13 million.

Critics agreed the 2017 was unusually approachable. Decanter's David Sly called it especially fragrant and forward, 'almost a drink-now wine,' though with sturdy tannins for the cellar, and Gago attributed that to the cooler season and later harvest. Suckling wrote that it would sit as a slightly lighter, earlier-drinking Grange than 2015 or 2016. The Wine Advocate found it 'relatively light and elegant-seeming on the finish' in the context of Grange.

Others saw more to come. Wine & Spirits called it a 'stealth Grange' that needs ten years or more, and Wine Spectator, which gave it 98 points, was the most enthusiastic of the major reviews. In October 2026, U.S. retailers were asking $824.99 and $850 for a single 750 ml bottle, against the AU$950 release price; one large U.S. online store listed the vintage as sold out.

Australia's collectible

By the end of the 1980s Grange had become a collector's item. A bottle of the 1951 sold at auction in 2004 for just over AU$50,000, according to Wikipedia, and Grange has sat in the top tier of the Langton's Classification of Australian Wine since 1991. In 2001 it was listed by the National Trust of South Australia, the only wine so honored.

Penfolds says Grange has an unbroken line of vintages since 1951 and has collected more than 35 perfect scores. The 2008 became the first New World wine to receive 100 points from both Wine Spectator and the Wine Advocate. Production is large for a cult wine: Gago said in 2013 that Penfolds makes 7,000 to 9,000 cases of each vintage, though the exact figure for 2017 has not been published in the sources reviewed here.

The numbers

Blend

100% Shiraz

Sources

Barossa Valley 86%, McLaren Vale 14%

Production

Not published for 2017; Penfolds' chief winemaker said 7,000-9,000 cases a vintage as of 2013

Wine Spectator

98

Vinous

97

Decanter

96

James Suckling

96

Wine Advocate

96

Wine & Spirits

94

Timeline

1. 1930

   Max Schubert joins Penfolds as a messenger boy.

2. 1948

   Schubert, 33, is appointed chief winemaker.

3. 1950

   Schubert tours Europe and visits the cellars of Bordeaux.

4. 1951

   The first experimental Grange is made from Magill Estate and Morphett Vale Shiraz; 1,800 bottles.

5. 1952

   The first commercially released vintage.

6. 1957

   Management orders Grange stopped; Schubert makes three vintages in secret through 1959.

7. 1960

   A second tasting turns opinion, and Grange is soon endorsed.

8. 1975

   Schubert retires; Don Ditter becomes custodian of Grange.

9. 1990

   'Hermitage' is dropped from the label after European Union objections.

10. 1995

    Wine Spectator names the 1990 Grange its wine of the year.

11. 2001

    Grange is listed by the National Trust of South Australia.

12. 2002

    Peter Gago succeeds John Duval as chief winemaker.

13. May 2011

    Penfolds and the other Foster's wine brands are spun off as Treasury Wine Estates.

14. 2017

    A cool, late vintage; Grange is made from Barossa and McLaren Vale Shiraz only.

15. Jun 23, 2021

    A 70th-anniversary dinner at Magill Estate pours one Grange from each of six decades.

16. Aug 5, 2021

    The 2017 is released worldwide at AU$950 a bottle.

17. 2026

    Penfolds marks Grange's 75th anniversary.

18. Oct 2026

    U.S. retailers list single bottles of the 2017 at $824.99 and $850.

The world in 2017

• Mar 29, 2017

  The United Kingdom triggers Article 50, starting Brexit negotiations.

• May 7, 2017

  Emmanuel Macron wins the French presidency, defeating Marine Le Pen.

• Jun 1, 2017

  The U.S. government announces it will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

• Aug 21, 2017

  A total solar eclipse crosses the contiguous United States from coast to coast.

• Aug 25, 2017

  Hurricane Harvey strikes Texas, bringing record floods to Houston.

• Sep 13, 2017

  The International Olympic Committee awards the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games to Paris and Los Angeles.

• Oct 27, 2017

  Catalonia declares independence from Spain; no country recognizes it.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Penfolds Grange 2017 is number 55 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (48 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Grange is named after Grange Cottage, the Penfold family home.
• Penfolds' managers ordered Grange stopped in 1957; Max Schubert kept making it in secret for three more vintages.
• Only 1,800 bottles of the first Grange, the 1951, were produced, and most were given away.
• Grange is a blend from many vineyards and regions, so the 2017's two-region recipe of Barossa and McLaren Vale is unusual.
• The 2017 is only the seventh Grange made entirely from Shiraz.
• For Grange's 70th birthday, Penfolds showed visitors a barred cellar holding 78 barrels of the 2020 vintage, worth about AU$13 million by Decanter's estimate.
• Grange is the only wine listed by the National Trust of South Australia.