Wine lovers queue to buy new release of Aussie Grange

By Pauline Askin

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - The latest vintage of Australia's best known wine, Grange, went on sale on Thursday with investors and drinkers queuing up to hand over the hefty A$550 ($516) asking price.

All 7,000 - 9,000 cases (of 12 bottles a case) of the 2003 Penfolds Grange vintage are expected to be snapped up by the end of the day, the winemaker said.

"We will sell all our stocks of 2003 today. We don't hold on to any. Boom, it's gone today," Penfold's chief winemaker Peter Gago told Reuters.

On May 1 every year, Penfolds puts a five-year-old vintage up for sale, with people queuing at the winery's cellar doors.

Costing ten to 20 times more than what a mid-range (A$25 - A$50) bottle would fetch at a restaurant, such top-notch wines attract a range of collectors despite the country's current glut of cheap wine.

"There are collectors and collectors," said Gago.

"A lot of collectors are actually drinking collectors. There are people out there who speculate and make money out of it." Thursday's sale at the winery drew a mixed crowd, from doctors, lawyers, businessmen and retirees, he said.

"There were tradespeople, who were literally off to their next (job) ... that's the lovely thing about wine. Gone are the days when it was elitist," he said.

Penfolds Grange is made predominantly from Shiraz grapes and a small percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Penfolds, which is now owned by Foster's Group, was founded in 1844 and is one of Australia's oldest wineries. The first vintage of Grange was made in 1951 with a bottle from that year sold at auction in 2004 for A$52,000.

The element of rarity and collectability have added to the popularity of Grange which is considered a heritage icon of South Australia.

"What's special about Grange is its longevity. It is one of the few Australian wines that was originally created with the idea that it would cellar very gracefully for the long term," Andrea Pritzkar, an auctioneer from Langton's fine wines told Reuters.

"Grange is vintage specific," she said.

Bottles of Grange, one of Australia's most recognized brands, regularly sell for about A$500.

"There is very strong interest in the U.S. and Canada, the key Asian markets, Hong Kong, Singapore and quite a bit of new interest from China as well," Pritzkar said.

(Editing by Gillian Murdoch)