the great Hill of Hermitage will question the role of terroir there. There are, however, other equally valid perspectives, and Gago and Frey always had a very clear idea of what they were. The wine was always envisaged as a celebration of a grape variety and a style, rather than of a particular place or producer. As Gago puts it in the press release, “The blend’s raison d’être [is] one variety—reunited, reinterpreted, reassembled. Via one variety, this wine fuses two hemispheres and two winemaking cultures: France and South Australia, Syrah and Shiraz, La Chapelle and Grange.” Gago and Frey both felt that Cabernet Sauvignon has held the center-stage for rather too long and wanted to give Syrah/Shiraz a share of the limelight. (Grange normally has a little Cabernet, usually less than 8%.) And of course they wanted to produce a great new wine with its own distinct identity. Inevitably, some of those fortunate enough to spend time with the new baby will not be able to resist the temptation to try to see which features come from which parent. At the launch dinner, one Australian wine writer admitted to being baffled, even frustrated, in her attempt to discern which qualities came from the Grange and which from the Hermitage La Chapelle; while some in the French press are quite sure that the Australian parent brings less to the marriage and its offspring than the French: muscle and richness, for which it gets in return the higher virtues of elegance, freshness, and finesse.
While Gago recognizes this
temptation, he hopes that most of those who drink the wine will resist it—not least because he doubts it’s possible in taste terms. He would be the first to accept that the child has the DNA of both parents and that their personalities and qualities are vital. But he would also insist that they combine in complex ways to create a quite distinct individual. He points out that a parent with black hair and a parent with red hair may produce a blond child and that it is impossible to see the primary colors in all the others to which they give rise. He suspects that the tannins of the two parent wines combine to form quite different tannins; and the structure and texture of the new wine were the features that Frey singled out when I
Above: The cleverly designed, fittingly symmetrical label, the cross mirroring that on the chapel.
tasted it with the two of them in London. “There is a completely different texture and weight in the mouth,” she marveled. “I was afraid the wine might become hard, but in fact it has become very silky, in a quite distinct, even unique way.” This is the alchemy, the astonishing
transformation wrought in all successful blends, and a large part of their rationale. Even those blending components whose origins are much closer together—in the same single vineyard, like Jacques Devauges at Clos des Lambrays in Morey St-Denis, rather than multiple vineyards thousands of miles apart—testify to the blend being so much more than the sum of its parts. What we have in Grange La Chapelle is one plus one equaling one—but a different one. Or one plus one equaling three great wines. Even more than the distinct personality, it is the perfect harmony and sheer quality of the new wine that provide the best answer to the question “why?”
RRP of 75cl bottle is A$3,500 / €2,600; available in most key markets through appointed Penfolds agents or through
grangexlachapelle.com
TASTING 2021 Grange La Chapelle (14% ABV)
Tasted twice: in London on October 1, 2024, and in Paris on February 9, 2025. A deep purple-ruby to a thin, vibrant, crimson rim; opaque but not saturated, bright and shining. A captivating nose on both occasions, a fabulous aromatic weave; very elegant, fine, fresh, and focused, but effortless and floating, with graceful lift, the detail and intricacy already starting to show within the overall subtlety. Dark-fruited, with pure blackcurrant, blackberry, and mulberry, but neither raw nor roasted; beautifully integrated oak, barely perceptible as such, but perhaps contributing the light sandalwood and soft spice waft. With air, the spectrum widens, revealing more of the base notes, clean earth, licorice, even light resin (not eucalyptus), and more of the floral/mineral top notes (violets). Disarmingly silky entry, with exceptionally fine, chalk-dusty, gently supportive tannins; medium-bodied, perfectly paced, with a controlled energy and fluency. Almost racy; sleek, with great harmony, transparency, and vibrancy, remaining succulent throughout the elegant, persistent finish, which glides on and on. Although clearly very different, not only in terms of maturity, this was fully worthy of standing on the same table as the 1990 and 1978 La Chapelle, and the 1990 and 1971 Grange, which were also served at the launch dinner. 2030–50+. | 96–97
THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 87 | 2025 | 61
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