tawny port

Two less common Australian fortifieds

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

1976 seppelt para

1976 Seppelt Para Liqueur 22%
Barossa, predominantly grenache with some Shiraz and Mataro.

Most of these Seppelt tawny styles have a lovely amber/khaki colour with an olive green rim – the handbell/lantern shaped bottle is distinctive, but a minor storage hazard- though most will be kept on their original cardboard boxes.

This is not a 46 year old wine! Vintage Paras were released in 1922, 1925, 1927, 1930, 1933, 1939, 1944 and 1947. Labelling laws and imperfect records meant the year referred to the oldest component. The “101” was released in 1975, with an average age around 28 years. The numbered series continued up to “126”, but the releases were slightly more often than annually. This 1976 vintage wine was released in 2004, (aged in oak perhaps 28 years) and has been resting in bottle – and not improving- for nearly 20 years.

It smells ripe with citrus peel, mixed roasted nuts, fine caramel, fruitcake spices and quality brandy spirit. It’s lush on the palate, with some mocha creaminess, and a warm and decadent finish. The style is under-rated, and the quality is exemplary.

There will be some vintage variation with varying degrees of ripeness, minor spirit tweaks, and the usual artful blending from barrels of different sizes, and heights in the stacks. There are plenty of variables to keep across. The current release (from Seppelts) is the 2001, available for $95.

Match with sparkling conversation, contemplative music or a witty movie.

Drink now, 94 points.

20 yo de bortoli black noble

De Bortoli 20 years old Black Noble 18.5%
Bottle #585. Released in mid-2018 ($90) to celebrate 90 years of de Bortoli winemaking. Average age 20 years, and made from incredibly ripe botrytised Semillon,  fortified and barrel -aged. Botrytis is often accompanied by volatile acidity, which makes its presence felt strongly here.

It’s a very dark treacly/espresso colour (indicating barrel age), with citrus and espresso, dried fruits and dusty fruitcake spices.

The palate has the nuttiness, an extra mocha shot and abundant spices, It’s turbo-charged with sweetness, acidy and power. It’s a monster step up from the widely available 10 y/o black noble. There is no getting away from the VA, but when there is so much intensity, flavour, lusciousness, and pleasure that I become a convert.

Drink now, 94 points.

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Three wines, at least two learnings

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

1982 S&K VP

1982 Stanton and Killeen Vintage Port 19%
Rutherglen Shiraz, from a vintage rated as 9/10 by the winemaker.

Forty years old , and the cork has held up. Bricky colour, but nothing out of order.
Black fruits, mocha, fresh red liquorice, and vanilla bean; almond and clove spices join in. Light milk chocolate, soft palate. Easy to ask for more.

Drink to 2025, and a resounding 91 points

Warre’s Optima 20 Year old Tawny Port 20%
Portugal, bottled in 2013 (and served blind)

Light khaki colour, and packed with toffee, caramel, vanilla, fruit peel, and citrus. Light on its feet, lingering, everything in its place…except one sensitive taster mentioned mousiness.

This is – fortunately for me-not easy to detect (it depends on mouth pH and other factors), else it would ruin my enjoyment of many fortified wines. Mousiness can occur in non-fortified wines, seemingly more prevalent with no-early-SO2 wines (hello, natural wines again). A brief article by Jamie Goode is here.

I can find mousiness via the “skin test”, smearing it over my wrist and waiting for evaporation. The result can be horrific – I liken it to burnt bacon, corn chips and popcorn with a bitter, harsh and unfortunately persistent flavour. Once detected, it’s impossible to overlook –  I’ve had worse than this wine, but…

Avoid. No score.

2008 Ca’ d’gal vite vecchia Moscato d’asti 5%
Piedmont, Italy (served blind)

Partiallly obvious what this was – the frizzante, slightly sparkling style (around 1.5 atmospheres – Champagne is 4.5-6), the sweetness (90-100 g/l) and obvious grapey muscat aromatic. However, instead of merely the usual refreshing sherbetty and “fun” approach, this wine had much more complexity – chamomile, lime, beeswax/candlewax, a spice-bucket with mandarin citrus. Flavours mirrored this, and while still bracingly vibrant, bonus merit for its surprising cellarability and the exotic souk perfumes, Aged for 5 years in bottle, and look at the meagre alcohol level! Obvious ageing potential here. The producer makes a range; this is the old-vine flagship, No surprise its> $120.

Scoring presents a conundrum – Moscato d’asti is user-friendly, but this was well beyond my expectations of the style. It startled me, and led to some research.

Drink now, and 95 points