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Once upon a time there was a big wine store on Chapel St Prahran. It was called Dan Murphy’s and was pretty flash. Then it was bought by Woolworth’s and moved into a smart new warehouse building across the road – it was the flagship.
It is still there but now the flagship is in East Malvern (811-823 Dandenong Rd) and it has a flash tasting room for all the posh wines it sells.
I was there Monday for a sneak preview of the Grange Hermitage 2002 – which costs $525 in most stores – but is a fair bit cheaper at Dan’s. Here’s what we drank in reverse order.
Penfolds Grange Hermitage 2002
The equation of taste versus cost seems to have been solved by the marketing geniuses at Penfolds who charge A$525 a bottle. The wine itself is a jam jar full of summer fruits with tones of tobacco that takes a least 15 years to mature. Is it good? Yes. Is it worth it? The answer is in the eye of the beholder.
Penfolds Grange Hermitage 1971
This is a real treat, the vintage that the inventor of Grange Hermitage Max Schubert said was the best ever. The colour has mellowed but the flavour is still powerful, so much so that I’m sure that Robert Parker would have spunked his pants over it on release. What is really amazing is that it originally sold for little over $70 a case and Jeff who was there bought ten. He seduced his wife with a bottle. When I opened my 1990 I didn’t even get a handjob. I must be keeping the wrong company.
Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon
This is actually a pretty amazing wine and made the Chateau Lafite that it followed appear very flat. It’s big and full of fruit but doesn’t pack the annoying punch that so many of these wines do. I’m going to call this poor man’s Grange as its made by Penfolds, costs a little under $200 a bottle and is pretty damn good.
Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2000
This is the wine that Robert Parker did spunk his pants over giving 100 points. I tasted this before the Red Aussie wines and do tend to prefer my French wines. But on this occasion I kept my flies zipped.
Bass Phillip Reserve Pinot Noir 1994
Bass Phillip is one of the top producers but I couldn’t help feel that this one had peaked. Do any Aussie pinots keep this long?
Giaconda Chardonnay 2002
At this point this wine is kinder to the nose than the palate. Perhaps this will change with age. In a lesser way than Grange, this is a cult Chardonnay and yet again I find myself dealing with the economics of cost versus all those winey things.
Penfolds Bin 05A Chardonnay 2005
If you like Aussie chardonnay then this is for you. The oak is there but subtle.
Krug NV
Hey, I’ve just arrived by bicycle. I’m just going to enjoy this one thanks very much.
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You probably don’t want to hear this, but you can lose your license on a bicycle. My spy tells me that if you buy your limit of Grange (2 bottles) at Dans and add four bottles of anything else, yes even cleanskins, you can get the Grange for about $450 a bottle. Also, there is apparently a lot of Grange left over from last year.
I gathered it was to be about $450. Interesting on the sales I wonder if Penfolds have gone a $$$$ too far. Don’t worry, I spat most of it and (I think and hope) I was under the limit. Being a big bloke I reackon I can manage two glasses in an evening. Are you sure I can lose my license on a bicycle? I’m going to check this.
You spat out all that good wine, oh you should have gotten take away containers hehehe