Australian Vintage Port dinner 25 July 2025

[Waiters Friend]

G’day

I was privileged to attend a dinner focusing on Australian vintage ports. It’s a wine style that seems to be declining in popularity these days, as the market has moved to lower alcohol and drier styles.

When I was invited, one of my first thoughts was “what do you serve with a dinner based on VPs?”. As it turns out, my host had carefully considered this, and we sat down to a menu that was effectively two entrees, two desserts and a cheese course. Interesting!

My host was John Griffiths, from Faber Vineyards in the Swan Valley. John has gained an appreciation for vintage ports particularly when he was a winemaker at BRL Hardy, and generously selected 10 wines from his collection to share with an appreciative audience.

We worked our way up to the vintage ports with a couple of bottles of Pol Roger to start, and a magnum of Domaine Naturaliste Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 (Rebus, I think). This was in great nick - deep purple colour, with developed blackcurrant, eucalypt and mocha on the nose. Quite a textural palate, with coffee grounds, black olive / tapenade and developed dark fruits. Medium to full bodied.

The main event was, of course, the vintage ports, and these were from Hardy’s and Chateau Reynella. They are all 100% shiraz, 100% McLaren Vale fruit, and were matured in neutral 10,000L vertical vats made from Australian hardwood. High quality brandy spirit was distilled for the fortification process (not just neutral spirit). It seems that many of the wines were made in the same winery, after Hardy’s acquisition of Chateau Reynella in (I think) the 1980s.

Hardy’s Vintage Port 2008: A spirit-driven nose, with caramel, vanilla and brandy butter. There’s liquorice and Christmas cake on the very fresh palate, and considerable fruit sweetness. We definitely drank this too young, but this will be very good in (many) years to come.

Hardy’s Vintage Port 2001: This is showing the initial signs of development, with a touch of leather among rich dark plums, caramel and brandy spirit on the nose. The palate shows liquorice and fruit sweetness, and the alcohol slightly overshadows the other characters. There’s a strong flavour of brandy on the finish as well. Minor quibbles.

Hardy’s Vintage Port 1998: This was a monster! Huge spirity nose with menthol / eucalypt, liquorice, and with the dark fruits slightly in the background. The palate is rich, and softer than the nose indicated. Grippy drying tannins, and will be a very good wine in years to come. Too young now.

Chateau Reynella Vintage Port 1997: The polar opposite of the 1998 Hardy’s. The spirit used for this wine is different, appearing softer and more mellow, and there’s more stewed plum fruit on the nose (by comparison). The palate has a lovely slippery texture, with liquorice, brandied Christmas pudding, and treacle. The alcohol was also better integrated. Excellent wine on the night.

Hardy’s Vintage Port 1983: Mellow spirit and softer dark fruits on what was a comparatively restrained nose. Lovely sweet Christmas cake, plums on the palate, with soft palate and medium length. Possibly overshadowed by the bigger wines in the line-up.

Chateau Reynella Vintage Port 1977: This was a remarkably powerful wine for its considerable age. Darker in colour than most of the other wines, and with a huge nose of blackberry, vanilla, leather and nicely balanced spirit. The palate evens out nicely, with liquorice, Christmas pudding, vanilla pod, and a lovely texture (almost treacle). Very long finish and a favourite for many in the group.

Chateau Reynella Vintage Port 1968: Unfortunately corked, with stripped colour and cardboard nose. A sip regardless showed that there was some raisin, spirit and the remains of what was probably a very good wine.

Hardy’s Vintage Port 1964: Incredible nose, with mellow brandy spirit, lots of raisined fruits and prunes. The palate has a silky texture, with raisins, caramel and treacle. The spirit and tannins are fully integrated. Excellent wine.

The final two wines, although vintage wines, spent 20 years in neutral barrels before bottling.

Hardy’s Vintage Port 1954: A complex nose, with brandy spirit, caramel, fully developed berry fruits, menthol/eucalypt and raw brown sugar. The palate is fabulous and not overly sweet, with molasses and olive tapenade. The wine is superbly balanced, and was my wine of the night by a small margin.

Hardy’s Vintage Port 1943: This was the first (and only) wine to show its age, through its relative softness and integration. The nose showed brandy spirit and raisined fruit, while the palate is full and moderately complex, showing black olive tapenade, molasses, and coffee grounds. The spirit is slightly hot on the finish, but again, a very minor quibble. One of my top wines of the night.

What a phenomenal tasting, and one that might be very difficult to replicate. Profound thanks to John for hosting and providing the wines, and to those assembled for good cheer and excellent company.

Cheers
Allan

[WineRick]

When you say 'Vintage Ports', do you mean the Vintage Port style ( 12 - 18 months in barrels then many years bottle-aging) or ports from a particular year, and aged for many year in barrel, i.e. Tawny port.
In Portugal, tawnies are made in low years, with very few carrying a vintage year.
If the same spirit is used, a port made in 195x and aged for twenty years in barrel will taste the same as one made in 195x+2 , in 2025.
Seppelt started the craze with vintage Para's, together with Penfolds dated Club ports.

[Waiters Friend]

When you say 'Vintage Ports', do you mean the Vintage Port style ( 12 - 18 months in barrels then many years bottle-aging) or ports from a particular year, and aged for many year in barrel, i.e. Tawny port.
In Portugal, tawnies are made in low years, with very few carrying a vintage year.
If the same spirit is used, a port made in 195x and aged for twenty years in barrel will taste the same as one made in 195x+2 , in 2025.
Seppelt started the craze with vintage Para's, together with Penfolds dated Club ports.

I believe all of the ports were bottled within 18 months of vintage, except for the oldest 2, which spent 20 years in barrel.

[paulf]

This would have been a pretty interesting tasting. I have a couple of the 97 Reynella ports but most of my Australian drinking in the style has been with Rutherglen ports.
I do think it is possible to pair port across a meal. I have a friend who reckons it is great with a good steak, and I can see the grippier tannins of younger ports working well there. I can see them working with game meats like venison or kangaroo but they probably need to be a bit younger than the ones here. I'm not actually a fan of the vintage port and blue cheese pairing that many consider classic. I think the acidity in blue cheese can be a bit much for older ports and I don't think the tannin in younger ports works that well with creaminess of the cheese

In Portugal, tawnies are made in low years, with very few carrying a vintage year.

I think it is a lot more complicated than that. Even in the good years the vast majority of port made will be basic Ruby or Tawny and the volume of the high end stuff a producer is allowed to produce is controlled by the wine board (IVDP) anyway, so any excess high quality grapes either trickle down into the LBVs or are destined to be made into higher quality tawny, either for blending or for Colheitas (single harvest tawnies) down the track.
Also, some producers prioritize, while others specialize, in barrel aged ports - I think Kopke is more known for it's Colheitas than vintage port, and a brand like Ramos Pinto prioritizes tawnies with an indication of age over it's Vintage ports.
We certainly don't see much in the way of Colheitas in Australia, and we don't get a whole lot of 20 year old or above tawnies either

Seppelt started the craze with vintage Para's, together with Penfolds dated Club ports.

Those Paras labelled with a year aren't quite what they seem... As I understand it, the year that was used on the label was the oldest component of the blend, which is a bit misleading and, I guess, at least part of the reason they switched over to the numbers. Still delicious though!