Penfold’s Grange for $90 a glass at Matt Moran’s restaurant
THEY retail for hundreds of dollars a bottle and sit of the top shelf of most restaurants. But now some of the country’s most expensive wines are being uncorked for a new generation. And you’d be surprised how many diners are drinking up.
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FOR years they have gathered dust atop the highest reaches of wine cellars but some of Australia’s most expensive wines are now being uncorked for a new generation.
Wary of a dwindling older drinkers and sparked by the potential of an increasingly wine-savvy youth market, luxury wine producers like Penfolds and Henschke are now doing what was previously unthinkable — they’re offering top vintages by the glass.
In the case of Penfolds it has undertaken one of their boldest experiments since its inception in 1844.
The famed wine producer is trialling a “Grange by the glass” concept for a limited time at Matt Moran’s Barangaroo House — pairing a glass of current release 2014 Grange Hermitage with a custom-prepared steak sandwich.
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There is a slight catch — the glass clocks in at a pricey $90. The larger pour is $180 and the sandwich will cost you an extra $30.
Barangaroo House wine boss Matt Dunne said its cost hasn’t affected demand with dozens of bottles of being emptied since the trial began last week.
“We have sold about 70 glasses so far just in the few days since we started,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.
“Which is more than we expected but because this is a new concept we weren’t sure what would happen.”
It’s a trend aimed at younger drinkers and it’s growing according to Wine Business Solutions consultant and market analyst Peter McAtamney who said one third of all wines now sold in restaurants is by the glass.
Another grand daddy of the wine world, Henschke’s Hill Of Grace, can be purchased at Rockpool with a price tag of $125.
At George Street restaurant est. and Circular Quay’s Aria, the famed 2005 Jim Barry Armagh shiraz sells for $170 per 100ml.
Currently, wines-by-the-glass costing $30 or more make up one in every 100 sold in Australia.
It has also become more commonplace since the recent advent of wine pouring technology — a device called a “Coravin” that prevents waste and allows the wine to be kept at premium quality.
“So we will start seeing even more and more of this type of thing because these high-quality wines by the glass are certainly something that captures the imagination,” Mr McAtamney said.
The idea to offer “Grange by the glass” was borne out of a push by Penfolds to engage younger drinkers with a wine previously relegated to their home cellars of millionaires and hardcore wine collectors.
“It isn’t something that has been accessible to a lot of the people in the past … we’re aware of that,” Penfolds’ brand ambassador Zoe Warrington, who is also pushing Grange in the US to spread the word of the iconic Australian red wine, said.
“The whole thing with the glass idea and the steak sandwich to go with it at Barangaroo House was really to get the Penfolds name right out there and show people what they might have been missing,” she said.
“It is something with a big wow factor and is a bit of a novelty.”