1951 Penfolds Grange Hermitage

Grape Varieties: Made from 100% Shiraz. The fruit was sourced from 50 per cent Magill (Adelaide) and 50 per cent Morphett Vale (Adelaide).

Alcohol: 13.5%

Vintage conditions: Hot, dry growing season, with rainfall almost 40 per cent less than normal.

Fermentation/maturation: Submerged cap, open concrete fermenter; 12-day fermentation with rate of fermentation controlled using a brine heat exchanger; 18 months maturation in new American oak hogsheads.

Tasting notes:size> This was an experimental wine and was not commercially released. Only 160 cases (five hogsheads) were made. The monetary value of this wine is based on its rarity and historical significance, not its intrinsic quality.

"A curio, well past its best." (Ultimate Grange Experience, Nov. 1994)

"...a frail and largely faded relic of what once must have been a very good wine." (James Halliday, Weekend Australian, Dec. 1994)

"First, experimental Grange- extremely rare. Valuable collector's item because of its historical significance. The wine itself is well past its peak: dull, tawny colour; skeletal; little flesh; fading tannins. Curio." (Southcorp Wines, The Rewards of Patience, Fourth Edition, March 2000.)