The Merry Drinker

With so many fine new labels coming out of Australia nowadays, it is easy to forget the ones that have been around a long time. The grandaddy of them all is Penfolds, a firm that has been in business since the 1840s.

During its first hundred years of existence, Penfolds concentrated on fortified wines and brandies. All that changed after the firm’s chief winemaker, Max Schubert, visited Europe in the late 1940s. Schubert was taken up by the Bordeaux winemaker Christian Cruse, who taught him the craft of making first-class wine. The young pupil became obsessed by the idea of making an Australian wine to rival the French classics.  

At that time such an ambition seemed little short of insane. The French considered their wines inimitable (they still do), and everyone else agreed. Schubert received no encouragement from his employers. Undeterred, in 1951 he created an experimental wine, not out of Bordeaux grapes, which were then hard to find in Australia, but using Syrah, the principal grape of the Rhône. At that time Syrah was known in Australia as Hermitage, and Penfolds’ headquarters were called the Grange, so Schubert dubbed his new wine “Grange Hermitage”. He produced 150 cases, none of which went on sale. Schubert gave almost all of it away to his friends and family.

The general verdict was that Max’s bosses had been right to discourage him. Everyone who tried Grange Hermitage pronounced it harsh and unpleasant, apparently unaware that this is how all first-class wines taste in their first years of life. Penfolds ordered Schubert to cease production.

He ignored the order. By the time his disobedience was discovered, the first bottles of Grange Hermitage had reached early maturity. It was then indisputable that Grange Hermitage was a wine of the first rank, and that Max Schubert was a genius. The ban was rescinded, and Penfolds put Grange Hermitage on sale. The wine won international acclaim. Penfolds’ fortified wines and brandy were quietly forgotten.

Apparently one or two examples of the 1951 still survive. If you can find one, you should expect to pay around $30,000 for it. If that is a little too much for you, you could try a more recent recent vintage, though I should warn you that these never cost less than $250. Still too steep? Then you might consider one of the other wines Max Schubert developed for Penfolds. Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz would be an excellent one to try. It too is a 100% Syrah – sorry, Shiraz. The nose is pleasantly oaky, the palate creamy and full, suggesting cooked fruit and cocoa. At $22 (£11) it is an excellent buy. And when you try it, don’t forget to raise a glass to the visionary insubordinate who put Australian wine on the map.