The results are in! Our Rare Fortified wines have recently earned impressive scores from the Halliday Wine Companion. All of these wines have been aged in our original cellars for a minimum 15 years and are a testament to almost 100 years of family winemaking. See below scores from Marcus Ellis of the Halliday tasting team.
Rare Muscat – Gold 95 Points
$50
Made from muscat gordo blanco and Canada muscat, this has a minimum age of 15 years, drawn from soleras dating back to the ’70s. Deeply fruited and flavoured, with preserved dates, liqueur cherries, allspice, rum-flamed plum pudding, dark caramel, molasses and sweetly bitter chocolate studded with raisins. Intense and detailed – you can taste the history here. A bargain. 500ml. Marcus Ellis
Rare Apera – Silver 94 Points
$50
Made from a blend of soleras, with material dating back to the ’70s, with the minimum age of 15 years and the varieties not specified, or likely known. This is deeply flavoured, intensely resonant of older material, with notes of preserved fig, candied orange and dried muscatel suffused with rancio and umami flor notes, a keen sharpness giving palate definition. 500ml. Marcus Ellis
Rare Tawny – Silver 93 Points
$50
This is constructed from a range of soleras dating back to the 1970s, with the minimum age 15 years, and the varieties not specified. Quite lifted and spiritous, with a sumptuously sweet palate, and notes of raisins, boot polish, figs in syrup, Christmas cake, panforte. It’s got plenty of depth and intensity, and is more about impact than finesse – but there’s a place for that. 500ml. Marcus Ellis
Taste the range every Friday in winter at Cellar II. Book an express fortified tasting flight and sample your choice of four wines in our cozy tasting room. Plus, each week we’re pouring a different winemaker’s feature fortified. These are special, unreleased wines that have been in the barrel since the early 2000’s.
