richness of the style! In the past week I have sampled this wine twice in my seminar presentations and all those present agreed with me that this was something very special. One person described it “ as an explosion of pretty colours for the palate”.

The first declared vintage of this wine was in 1928, and we have been sourcing Shiraz for this wine from those same old vines ever since. The grapes are fermented in the traditional d’Arenberg way – minimal processing which involves up to two weeks fermenting on skins in traditional headed down open fermenters, foot treading, followed by basket pressing through the 19th century ‘Coq’ and “Bromley & Tregoning’ presses.

After basket pressing, a small amount of fine, fortifying brandy spirit is added, ending fermentation and retaining the sweet fruit and richness of the style. The Vintage Port is bottled in the same year of vintage.

The d’Arenberg Vintage Fortified wine is made from a single vintage, and does not spend any time in wood prior to bottling. Unlike the Nostalgia Tawny, the Vintage Fortified wine will develop for many years in the bottle before it reaches its peak.

d’Arenberg’s Vintage Fortified wine receives only a cursory filtration, and will throw a significant crust, especially when it is older, and will definitely require decanting before serving.

Upon release, d’Arenberg’s Vintage Fortified Shiraz, traditionally just known as “Vintage Port", has a consistent deep, intense purple almost black colour matched by just as intense aromas of ripe, spicy shiraz fruit, combined with a lifted (and slightly ‘taily’) brandy spirit. Spicy blackberry, mulberry, plum and blackcurrant fruit smells are also evident on the structured young palate. The initial attack of primary shiraz fruit flavours combined with the light brandy spirit ensure the palate is rich, intense and full flavoured, especially in the middle, all before a rich, drying astringency from the fruit tannins leaving no lingering sweetness on the finish.

Chester d’Arenberg Osborn, chief winemaker adds “With significant bottle age, d’Arenberg’s Vintage Fortified Shiraz gains extraordinary complexity. The intense young colour become a lighter more ruby red initially then quite amber. Fruit and brandy spirit integrate making way for chocolate, coffee, walnut even hints of liquorice and anise smells.On the mature palate, sweet full and rich fig, chocolate, malt, coffee, leather and tobacco like flavours dominate initially before spicy, tea-like soft tannin dryness and rolling hazelnut and juicy butterscotch length. d’Arenberg’s Vintage Fortified Shiraz can often live in bottle for quite extraordinary periods. Indeed, at d’Arenberg we still have some bottles of our 1928 ‘Vintage Port’ left in our museum cellar. At this age another quite different range of characters is present in the wine, whiffs of rosehip, mushrooms, orange peel, estery sweet lemon and singed vanilla bean are some, but in the main these extremely old wines become quite soft vanilla dominated on the nose and brandyesque on the palate.” I guess that means that I will have to be patient and keep some bottles in the cellar!