"Penfolds Grange Shiraz 1983 was made using a blend of 94 percent shiraz and 6 percent cabernet sauvignon. Grapes for this vintage of Grange were grown in the Barossa Valley (Kalimna Vineyard and others), Magill Estate (Adelaide), and the Modbury Vineyard (Adelaide). 1983 was a hot, tragic vintage (marked by the Ash Wednesday bushfires) though it was also marked by heavy rain (and floods) around harvest time. Many aspects of 1983 were a winegrower’s worst nightmare. And yet out of the mayhem a wine like this 1983 Grange produce.
Deep, brooding, timeless scents with a whopping slink of malt and licorice and blackberry – this is still a very youthful wine. Renowned for its inapproachability, this wine is finally starting to come around, now offering rich licorice and drying tannin, a cigar-box savouriness and oodles of concentrated, masculine power. Mint-doused leather, but sexily interwoven. Oak has largely taken its leave. A rugged champion of a wine. 95 Points" - Campbell Mattinson