Rare collections of the World's leading wines to be sold as single bottles

Timed Online Auction, 15 - 28 August 2023

Penfolds

Sold for

ZAR 8 208
Lot 204
  • Penfolds; Grange; 1981; 1 (1 x 1); 750ml


Lot Estimate
ZAR 8 000 - 12 000
Selling Price
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
ZAR 8 208

About this Item

1981 Grange
1 (1 x 1) 750ml

Penfolds was founded by Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold in 1844, who arrived in Australia with their vine cuttings in hand. They had no prior history in winemaking but set about inventing tonics, brandies, and fortified wines. Mary took charge, blending the wines to her taste and enforcing the winemaking philosophies that Penfolds still follows today. Penfolds Grange was created in the 1950s and holds a high reputation worldwide.

Sublime, voluptuous, beguiling, inviting, opulent, layered. These are some of the words often used to describe Penfolds Grange. Unlike the most expensive wines of Europe, Grange is not a single vineyard production, but rather a carefully blended composition of high-quality grapes harvested from a wide region. The craft and expertise that goes into each vintage gives Penfolds Grange its prestige pedigree.

Michael Egan Authentication code - 1477

Provenance

The Coats Family Cellar is arguably the most prestigious fine wine collection ever offered in South Africa. It contains an expansive collection of the worlds finest, most sought-after wines, spanning over 150 years. Collected over many decades, the cellar was imported from Ireland to South Africa via refrigerated container. Each bottle within the Coats Family Cellar was authenticated by Michael Egan in August 2022 and given an ID number for tracking.

Michael Egan is a world-expert in fine and rare wines with more than thirty five years of experience. He was the principal expert for the plaintiff in the two major wine counterfeiting trials in Koch v. Eric Greenberg and United States v. Rudy Kurniawan, both of which occurred in 2013.

Along with Michael Egan, the Strauss & Co Fine Wine team have tasted extensively through the cellar and are confident of the wine storage and hence quality. The entire collection is currently stored at Wine Cellar.

Critics Ratings

‘The 1981 stood out as slightly superior. Winemaker John Duval always felt this was a tannic style of Grange, but the wine has shed its tannins, and this is one of the few vintages where the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon was above 10%. Sweet notes of creme de cassis, cedarwood, charcoal, and barbecue spices are followed by a full-bodied, opulent wine displaying heady amounts of alcohol, glycerin, and density in its full-bodied, skyscraper-like texture. I was drinking this wine with great pleasure in the mid-nineties, yet here it is nearly 15 years later, and the wine does not appear to have budged much from its evolutionary state. This is a testament to how remarkably well these wines hold up, and age at such a glacial pace.’ - Robert Parker Jr, Wine Advocate, 97/100 (Jun 2009)

‘Black/ruby and one of the deepest colours in this range (The Samplers 10th birthday icon collection.) Mild, sweet, lightly medicinal but so pure and refreshing. Neat and fresh. Sweet with a lot going on – almost as though all the contents of the medicine cabinet had been cooked up together. Dry, savoury, lightly tarry finish after all that rich fruit. Very well balanced and lovely now but with lots still to give.’ - Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, 19/20 (Dec 2016)

View all Penfolds lots for sale in this auction