Penfolds Bin 95 Grange Shiraz 2006

Dense and quite closed wine that is a little hard to read at this stage. Big and powerful red with great power and intensity. Obviously the best years lie ahead but this is clearly an impressive red now. Dark berry, spice, vanilla, dark chocolate and a solid overlay of oak. Hard to say whether it's a classic Grange but it's certainly very, very good.

2006 Grange is a focused, oak sopper of formidable physique that shows its hallmark ability to impressively mesh raw, layered fruit power, architectural tannins and a swathe of pristine, heady oak. It bugs me to see the wine in this state – as a glass-to-glasser in its infancy it is adamantine in this incarnation. Here, we as wine writers, are given the job of soothsayers; will it live for decades, undoubtably, will it further weave and show the kind of intellectual edifice for which this acolyte of wines is renowned, I reckon. It’s as impressive as I have ever seen new release Grange and a treatise to the work and machinations of winemaking. However, it also manages to toe a line that represents a manifestation of the old school sense of brooding, pent up muscle-and-brawn, while showing the lattice-work of modern ripeness and tannin flex. A fountain of youth forged from vineyard and fruit selection. There is a quiet awe at hand, but here is the consumer advocate in sotto voce, as this is a wine that strays from where current pleasures lie for me. Regardless, credit is due…

98% Shiraz, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon. TA 6.8 g/l, pH 3.49. 96% Barossa – but labelled simply as Australia. Leathery and liquorice. Reminds me a bit of port – no surprise, perhaps. Dramatic, symphonic black fruit. Really packs it in. Maintains the legend.