Southcorp’s new management has pulled off a major PR coup with the recent announcement that Penfolds Grange is going home to Magill Estate, where it was first created by legendary winemaker Max Schubert back in 1951. The wine has been made at the gargantuan Nuriootpa winery since 1974, but from 2002 some fruit for Grange will be crushed at Magill, joining the Magill Estate Shiraz, which is entirely made on site. A progressively larger proportion of Grange fruit will be processed at Magill over subsequent vintages. Penfolds also hopes to have constructed by 2005 – when the 50th vintage of Grange is due for release – a museum and ‘active’ tasting room for Australia’s benchmark wine.
