The wines may not take your breath away, but the prices sure will
TWE has shown no shame when it comes to squeezing money out of its Grange brand. Peter Gago has been a great ambassador for the prestigious label, while his masters screwed the price up higher and higher. It’s been easy lately, with the Chinese willing to hand over big money for prestige bottles. The RRP for the new Grange is $100 off $1000.
Most of the Grange bottles made are never opened. Collectors show them to friends at dinner parties, investors buy and sell them, but very few people drink them. If you actually want to buy some Grange to drink, I have wonderful news: the average auction price for older Granges runs around $400 to $500 a bottle, half the cost of the current wine. Plus the auctioneer’s take and freight, of course.
I’m talking about every vintage going back to the 1976, which can fetch up to $800. I shared a bottle with good friends a few years ago, and on that day it was the perfect red: a genuine 100 points. There are lots of good Granges made in the 40 vintages since, and the older ones are mature, ready to enjoy now.
The Burning Question
Tyson Stelzer’s piece on the 2018 release says: ‘Penfolds Collection 2018 – An outstanding release… but there’s a twist: The pertinent question this year is whether these wines can sustain such ever-spiralling domestic inflation.
The lowly bins have gone up 33%: Bin 128, Bin 138 and Bin 51 have gone up 33%. Bin 707 is now $600, Yattarna is $175 and Magill is $150. Tyson makes the same point that I make above, in relation to recent releases which drop in value pretty much straight away. For example, the RWT 2015 sells for $105, while its release price was $200. You can buy Grange 2013 at auction for $550, $300 under its list price last year.
‘In this auction climate,’ Tyson concludes, ‘it would take very sharp discounting indeed to offer sufficient enticement to buy these wines on release.’
The Wines
They don’t look like great value, that’s for sure, not from where I’m sitting.
The $40 Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling 2018 scores 92 points, the $50 Bin 311 Chardonnay 2017 scores 91, and the $125 Reserve Bin 17A Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2017 scores 94. Seriously, if I shell out a hundred bucks on a bottle of wine, I expect it to be 97 or 98 points.
It’s much the same with the ‘cheaper’ reds, even if they’re from the great 2016 vintage. They score 91 to 93 points, the $60 Bin 128 scores 94 (when did it get to be $60?). The 407 Cabernet looks to be the pick of these with a score of 96 but it’s $100 RRP. Good old St Henri also scores 96 points but now sets you back $135.
Where Sheep Safely Graze
Winefront frontman Campbell Mattinson’s take on the event frames it as The Penfolds circus. ‘Every year I think that people are going to get jack of being treated like sheep,’ he says, ‘and every year I’m surprised at the turn out.’ If that’s the way you feel, Campbell, why did you turn out for the circus?
Ah yes, all the wine scribes heed the call from TWE. 40 of them in Australia alone. I didn’t get an invite, I’m happy to say. It’s far more fun finding wines for $20 or less that you guys give me great feedback on. As I said when I started this: anybody can buy a good wine for $100 – or $1000 – but buying a good wine for $20 or $10 is takes a bit of skill.
Kim
