As I wrote in Heads up on Grange 2004 on Friday, with the wine still coursing through my veins, Grange 2004 is a very special wine. It is also fiendishly expensive, as one might expect of a wine that for once has no parallel – with a history of more than half a century of glory. According to Peter Gago (see him in today's Glass stoppers for Grange video), average production is generally under 10,000 cases – rather less than a typical left bank first growth.
Recommended retail price of the 2004 in the UK is £170 a bottle although www.wine-searcher.com shows quite a bit of disparity between countries and between retailers.
These are the very varied UK stockists suggested by Penfolds themselves:
Addison Wines
Averys
Berry Bros
Bordeaux Index
Corking Wines
Direct Wine
Farr Vintners
Harrods
Lea & Sandeman
Selfridges
The Wine Society
Wines4Business.com
Plus the following multiple retailers in recognition of services rendered for Foster's wines much lower down the ranks, the likes of Rosemount Diamond Label, Penfolds Koonunga Hill and Wolf Blass Yellow Label:
EH Booths
Majestic
Tesco.com
Waitrose
Tomorrow we'll be publishing Julia's tasting notes and scores on a wide range of wines from Waitrose, the supermarket with the most Masters of Wine on its buying team. She has been hard at work looking for the bargains.