$308,000 – NOW THAT’S A DRINK…

A couple of wine buffs have just paid $308,000 between them for two complete collections of every vintage of Penfolds Grange.

And a single bottle from the first-ever vintage in 1951, fetched $51,000 at the same on-line auction conducted by Langton’s Fine Wines earlier this month.

There were 51 bottles in each of the two collections, stretching from the inaugural 1951 to the latest released on the market, the 2002. One collection went under the hammer for $157,551 and the other for $149,501.

They were amongst a total of 1386 lots of some of Penfolds’ greatest-ever vintages, including two rare imperials (6-litres/8-bottles) of the 2004 Bin 60A Coonawarra Cabernet Barossa Valley Shiraz and 2004 Block 42 Barossa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that fetched $15,972 and $15,526 respectively.

Penfolds Grange was created in 1951 by Max Schubert and for those of us who can’t lay claim to having ever tasted it, is officially described as “a wine of extraordinary dimension and power… richly textured, intensely concentrated and packed with fruit sweetness.”

It has been credited with rivalling some of the greatest wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy, listed by America’s Wine Spectator magazine as “one of the greatest wines of the 20th century,” and is the only wine to be heritage listed by the South Australian National Trust.

The current-release, 2002, is selling for around $500 to $525.