While all the talk is about the new 2018 Grange, I had a rare opportunity to taste four back vintages side by side.
1990 was the first year when 'Hermitage' was dropped from the label
We tasted from old to new. The first wine was the 1985 Grange Hermitage. From a cooler vintage, this wine was originally not as highly regarded as 1982, 1983 or 1986. However, it shone on this night. After 37 years, it started to drink like a first growth Bordeaux, Max Schubert's dream. This medium bodied wine (12.8% alc) showed its age with fruit flavours almost gone. Instead beautiful savoury flavours like tobacco and dry herbs delivered intensity and persistence. The structure was holding up strong (95 points).
The second wine, the 1990 Grange, was the star of the night. It was still fresh and generous with its famous incredibly layered flavours of dark cherries, blackberry, and plum. The American oak is beautifully integrated. Fine tannins give the wine perfect balance. Wine Spectator got it right, when it declared this wine best in the world in 1995 (98 points).
An interesting counterpoint was the super ripe 1998 Grange. It is highly regarded, but I found it too rich. I tasted sweet confectionary. The wine was almost port like (91 points).
The final wine was the 2013 Grange. Can you believe you have to conclude this wine, at 9 years, is too early to drink? This is a mighty wine, extremely complex, combining black and blue fruits with earthy and meaty aromas as well as chocolate. There is an ultimate elegance in this wine and an extremely long finish (96 points).
All four wines had a typical Grange character - hard to capture in the abstract. But it also demonstrated that vintages matter, even in as majestic a wine as Grange.
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