Seppeltsfield Para Tawny 1988

I had mentioned this wine in a number of previous posts. It was something that came as a pleasant surprise; I had not even marked out the stall for exploration (perhaps they did not specify clearly enough what they were showcasing in the exhibitor's info). Seppeltsfield is an old Barossa winery founded in the mid 19th century. They have a series of old fortified Tawnies, even back to the end of the 19th century, a small volume of which they might be persuaded to sell at rarified prices. They had this cask for tasting at the booth - the 1988. A nice tea colour, with a sweet nose full of vine fruits but noetheless harbouring hints of spirit, the palate was sweet buttery, complex and nutty with the nutty buttery elements hiding what must be a sturdy acid backbone giving sterling support.

Quintarelli and Dal Forno

One of the opportunities that presented itself at the Grand Tasting Pavilion at the Wine and Dine Festival this year was tasting the wines of the cult figures of Quintarelli and dal Forno, both from the Valpolicella area. Both are famous for their versions of the classic Veneto blend and I tasted them in a lineup suggested by the merchant designed to highlight the outstanding qualities of each as I progress. Although the 3 wines tasted were made from grapes which had undergone some drying, two were actually at the basic entry level of classification, with the dal Forno Valpolicella richer and more tannic than the Quintarelli offering. The Rosso di Bepi, which basically is Amarone in less than perfect years, certainly took the game to a much higher level.

Almiviva 2010

Almaviva is the name given to the wine that is the collaboration between Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Vina Concha y Toro of Chile starting in 1997. A vineyard of some 85 ha was established in the Puenta Alto area of the Maipo Valley planting Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varieties for this wine. The fruit is hand harvested in small trays before destemming and a light crushing to release juices for fermentation in temperature controlled steel tanks. The wine is matured in new French oak for some 16-18 months before egg white fining prior to bottling. I tasted this wine at this year's Wine and Dine. Deep ruby with a Ribena rich berry nose, it was sweet blackcurrant fruity on the palate, with tannic acid backbone (a touch salty) for support.

Bottling a Barrique of Claret

I saw the manual bottling of a barrique of claret at the end of the Wine and Dine Festival this year - when I say the end, I lterally mean the end, it was at the exit point that I saw the vigneron valliantly struggle to put all the content of the barrel the array of empty bottles he had also brought along. He was using a manual syphon to bottle, and that brought back memories of me bottling the contents of a demijohn during my forays into home winemaking. After the bottling, the corking was done manually, with a machine machine that is an industrial version of what I had used before. After that the bottle tops were dipped in wax to seal it. Then the labels were manually stuck on.

Tasting old wines at the Wine Fair

Old wines, especially those over say 30 to 40 years old are not easy to come by and one of the special things that one can do in wine fairs is to taste the odd old wine or two. I had the opportunity to taste a few at this year's wine fair earlier in the month, not to mention a couple of bottles from the 1980s. Apart from the old 1962 PX that I had already blogged about, there were also a couple of old vin doux naturel from Languedoc - a Banyuls 1950 which actually tasted older than the Rivesaultes 1946 also on show.

As for the wines from the 1980s, I chanced upon a merchant dealing with Seppeltfield's old fortified wines, even from the end of the 19th century. Now even though they were only having 1988 for tasting, this was opening the door to many older wines, though how many of these actually fall within my budget is another matter. (BTW, the other wine form the 1980s was the Duhart-Milon 1986).

Wine Fair 2013 - Fortifieds

Sometimes in the middle of the event, it is not obvious that certain themes are developing, but on hindsight it becomes very obvious. One of the targets for my Wine Fair "campaign" was to taste enough new grapes so as to take my tally up to 400. The unexpected theme was fortified wines. First there was the trio of old wines, Don PX 62, Banyuls 50 and Rivesaultes 46. There was also Marsala from Marco Bartoli, introduced by Sebastiano himself. Then there was the company which deals with both old Pineau de Charentes from Lheraud, as well as old "ports" from Seppeltsfield. Now that must count as a secondary theme for this year's Wine Fair.

The ASM Wine Tasting

The Annual Scietific Meeting (ASM) for the Anaesthetists' College and Society was held last weekend. Started in 1996, I had basically attended every one at least in part except for the second one (1997). I cannot remember when they added a wine tasting at the end of the proceedings for an additional social item, but it has now been an acknowledged feature of the meeting.

It has always been enjoyable and I had organized the one in 2007 as well as helped in the sake tasting in another year. Last year the merchant who provided the wines decided to give a lengthy lecture on biodynamic wines and that did not go down well at all. This year's presentation on Burgundy wines was well received though it was still on the long side. The wines were nice enough to make a good impression.