A rare, if not unique, collection of magnums of Penfolds Bin 95 Grange is on the Langton’s website (www.langtons.com.au), bids closing at 6pm on December 7. Unique, because it was not until 1979 that Grange magnums were produced for commercial sale. The one and only Len Evans persuaded John Duval, Penfolds’ chief winemaker at the time, to create magnums from the 1971 to 1978 vintages by decanting two bottles of each one into a magnum. Each possesses an additional slip label: “Grange has been produced in magnum since the 1979 vintage. This magnum has been specially prepared for the A.A.P. Groupd Financial Markets Len Evans Annual Charity Golf Event, but carefully decanting two 750ml bottles into the magnum bottle under the supervision of Penfolds winemakers.”
As an additional comment, a few of these unofficial magnums made their way to Camperdown Cellars, and I purchased a couple, long since gone, but causing a certain amount of controversy at the time because Penfolds stoutly denied their existence.
Andrew Caillard MW says of the ’71 to ’78 magnums “They are rarer than Penny Blacks, Faberge eggs, bottlings of 1945 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, and 1961 Ferrari Spyders. We believe that this extraordinary set is the first and last of its kind.”
The 31-magnum collection has a pre-sale estimate of $50,000 to $70,000.