Barossa Valley/McLaren Vale South Australia
Price: c $27
by Fergal Gleeson

I had the privilege of tasting Penfold’s Grange last week at a Treasury Wines Event. I was expecting symphonies, revelation and sensuality. Actually it tasted like hmmm….. red wine!

The pricing of top end wines like Grange has less to do with the taste in the glass than the fact that they are part of the luxury industry. LVMH, the world’s largest luxury company, for example owns Dom Perignon, Krug and Moet & Chandon as well as about 70 Houses making items as diverse as fancy perfume, Swiss watches, monogrammed travel bags and ladies bikinis.

While Penfolds is still owned by a wine specialist (Treasury Wine Estates), Louis Vuitton and Christina Dior buyers are the company it keeps. The Grange was very pleasant but I wouldn’t pick it as a $750 bottle in a blind tasting.

If Grange is a luxury then SC Panell’s Tempranillo Touriga is an essential- so good I had to stop myself from glugging. It was love at first sniff when I picked up the savoury, herb smells from the glass.

This wine is light on it’s feet tasting of refreshing red berries. The finish was long like an echo in a cave of endless caverns. When you can buy wine of this quality for around $25 it’s hard to justify the mass destruction of your bank balance by a bottle of luxury wine.

I suppose if you need to ask the price well.. you know the rest.

Widely available. Rating: 4/5. For more Wine Reviews read and follow www.greatwineblog.wordpress.com  Drink and be merry!