In the glass the liquid glistens like very dark amber or like strong Earl Grey tea. Holding your nose a few centimetres over the glass fills it with the scent of dried fruit, oak barrels, red wine, vanilla and chocolate.

The first sip surprises with sweetness and acidity, with aromas of citrus fruit, espresso, plums and typical Christmas spices: cinnamon, cloves, allspice and cardamom. At 20% alc/vol Penfolds “Grandfather Rare Tawny” is no lightweight, but is hard to beat in terms of elegance, complexity, richness and depth.

“Tawny” (meaning ‘tan-coloured’) designates port wines made from red grapes, which are stored in barrels for three to forty years and bottled ready to drink. Their colour spectrum ranges from garnet red, maroon and orange reddish brown to very light amber or shades of gold.

At Penfolds dessert wines have a long tradition going back to the founding of the winery in 1844. “Grandfather Rare Tawny”, a cuvée made of Shiraz, Mourvèdre and smaller amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache, aged for 15 years in small oak barrels in Penfolds’ Kalimna cellars in the Barossa Valley.

“These wines make up the core of Penfolds, because the brand was built up around them,” explains Peter Gago, Penfolds’ Chief Winemaker. “Today these fortified wines represent an enormous value, especially when you take their age and associated storage as well as the oak wood used into consideration.”

Text: Rainer Meier