March 31, 2024 - chestnut brown colour with greenish tinge to rim, warm, walnut, fine but rich nose, lovely intensity but quite light on the palate, fine richness, sweet but not dominating, in fact quite dry on the finish, long and persistent, very nice fine fortified Australian wine, not to be compared with Portuguese port, quite different in flavour profile and style, nice, easy drinking
January 21, 2024 - Very enjoyable, well priced. Currant / raisin, spice, caramel, good.
July 12, 2023 - lovely fine complex nose of raisins, dried figs and nuts, warm, enveloping, long palate, quite sweet but also with sufficient refreshing acidity, nice, although half the bottle disappeared with the cheese course (including 24 month aged Comté forté - see CHATTERS note), it is probably better savoured and appreciated on its own as the “dessert”, more akin to an Australian old reserve Tokay or Muscat than an original Portuguese tawny port but that is perhaps not so surprising, the sweetness becomes less noticeable the longer the bottle is open (and the more of the contents are in the reviewer)
September 3, 2022 - Drank over 5 weeks.
Rich but also very fresh. Dried fruit, figs, raisins, some nuts. No alcoholic heat at all, not too sweet, very nice acidity. Great balance. Very good QPR.
After the 4th week all of the freshness was gone, so I would recommend drinking this up within roughly 3.5 week of opening
August 21, 2021 - This wine is a small contribution to the Barossa's great tradition of producing outstanding, aged fortified wines. The many years allow the wine to mature in seasoned, small oak casks encourages the flavours to slowly concentrate and develop into a rich, complex and spicy Barossa Tawny.
November 24, 2020 - Last Tuesday Supper Club (One Penny Red, Summer Hill): Toffee tends to caramel, fig, sweet spice, christmas cake, slight spiritous note, damsons...juicy, rich, alcohol warmth is non-intrusive, caramel, toffee, fig, dried fruits, raisins, cream...goes very well with Comte.
July 22, 2020 - Delivers excellent quality for the price paid (this could even be underpriced if I may say). Lots of nutty, caramelly notes on the nose with some dried fruit coming into play on the palate. I'd say this is medium-sweet, nothing overdone. Powerful fruit character, soft tannins and a lick of acidity. Not sweet and sappy, but rich. Nice, long finish. A job well done.
May 1, 2020 - Walnut, oxidative, overripe apple, burnt sugar, great length and alcohol very well interated.
This came from a bottle that was stored 20 years since release and I felt this truly benefted this wine (even though it logically doesn’t make much sense)
November 27, 2017 - Chirong's Annual Pilgrimage (Cellar Door): Nutty, minty, licorice, dried quince, chinese herbal throat syrup, royal jelly.
November 10, 2017 - Festival of Alex - Rockford Stonewaller Tasting: Bramble, chocolate, cinnamon and cloves. Medium depth and length, with the spirit coming through a bit on the finish. Decent but not exciting.