Penfolds Grange is Australia's most famous wine.
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It's one of our greatest, and most collectable, as good vintages age for 50 years and build great complexity of flavour with time.
If the Premier was given a Grange from his birth-year, 1959, costing almost $3000, I hope he had the good luck to receive a bottle with a good cork, which had been well cellared, because this vintage is getting a little past its best and should have been drunk by now.
Good bottles could still be very enjoyable – as long as you have a taste for very old red wine. Most people don't, because they seldom get the opportunity.
If your idea of a good red is something young, purple and fruity, you might think '59 Grange resembles an infusion of old boots, used socks and outback dust. Few old Granges are valued anywhere near the $3000 mark. For those that are, it's more about rarity than quality.
The '59 Grange was never a top vintage and its price is high because it is scarce. The '55, on the other hand, is a great and very famous vintage, one of the best, and has a similar auction value, because it's not quite so rare.
If I was Barry O'Farrell, I'd have tried to swap the '59 for a '55.
Story courtesy of SMH
