The Auswine Forum

G'day

I don't know enough about the Paras after the year disappeared from the label. I've enjoyed some spectacular, or at least interesting, Paras over the years, including 1930, and 1947.

104 was a bottle acquired from a friend, and I suspect it is an early 1980s bottling. It's been in the decanter for a couple of weeks now, and has changed a little (but only a little) in that time.

Deep colour with no 'olive' rim or other obvious signs of ageing.

Slightly dusty texture. Christmas cake, some raisin and an almost caramel or toffee flavour. Enjoyable, but I suspect better 10 years ago.

Cheers

Allan

Hi Allan

These are interesting old ports and often surprise. I drank a lot of them in the 70's and 80's and found them pretty consistent and enjoyable. I tried one (a 120?) that had been stuck in a cupboard for at least 10 years half drunk the other day and was totally overwhelmed by how fresh and vital it was still in the bottle.

Like you I've had a 1947 (actually 2) and drank them to celebrate the 60th of a mate and the demise of my father (as he married my mother in 1947), and found them to be quite special wines although the occasion may have been partly responsible.

I hope you've been able to get some of those incredible bargains from Seppeltsfield lately.

You're a bit of a lucky bastard living in Perth - I had a 2003 Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon the other nite and was stunned by the depth of flavours and aromas.

Cheers

Luke

I found this blurb on a bottle of Para 104 that sold earlier this year on Grays.

Para Liqueur Aged Tawny Port comes from a Solera (never ending) system and this is truly a superb port. Great complexity and lingering intensity. The numbered bottlings began with 101 in 1976. 101 was the first bottling that now goes up to 127 (one every 12-15 months roughly), 101 was bottled in 1976 - blended from puncheons going back to the 1930's.

So probably around 79-80 for the 104. I have had a couple of 1939s. My father was born in '39 so we had one for his 60th and another for his 70th last year. It was sensational, but part of the enjoyment is drinking something so old for a special occasion. I have one more '39 that I was saving for his 75th, but I think it would last until it is 100.

Thank Sharkey for the information on the 104.

I agree the older ones seem to go indefinitely. We had a bottle of 1930 for my Dad's 60th in 2000, and we've also been through 1939, 1944 and 1947 over the intervening years.

Part of the reason for my Dad's interest was the port-collecting craze in the late 1970s. I remember him waking up after a family Christmas gathering, to find he had generously opened the oldest port in the house (a 1930), only to realise he had spent $900 (at the time, or so he reckons) in the process.

Unfortunately, auction prices have doubled in the last decade.

Dad still has a remaining 1930 I bought for him, but like Luke, he and I seem to wait for special occasions to look at them.

Cheers

Allan

Something strange going on with the sales of Para ports at auction(1930,1939,1947etc).

Prices (opening and finishing) have doubled or tripled in the past 12-18 months. But almost all get passed in.

A real shame, as I was regularly buying and enjoying them.

Why the massive shift in price? I sure hope it doesn't last.

Am reactivating a very old thread as have just purchased a 1947 Para from a local (Central Vic) auctioneer that mostly specialises in clearance sales and this was a bit of an oddment, provinence unknown however there is only about 3cm of ullage so am hoping might be okay....didn't cost a bomb so felt it worth the risk,

A few questions for the learned on this forum as there is sparse information on the internet with respect to the wine itself.

- Firstly is not numbered so preceedes the numbering system Seppelts introduced in the mid 70's so is at least 45 or so years old, is there any way of dating it beyond that ?.

- Secondly should I decant and for how long ?, my concern is that if I leave it too long in a decanter oxidisation may become an issue.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, am serving up to a few local dad's for fathers day on Sunday evening who will be making thier way to my shed via the forest in cammo's to avoid detction.

Cheers,

Barney

With so little ullage I am expecting It to be wonderful. It is likely to have very fine sediment throughout so standing it for a week would be good. If you are not transporting the wine there is no need to decant if you pour gently, although sometimes these old tawnies can be a bit musty and some air helps. Having said that decanting is unlikely to affect the wine much.

Barney wrote: A few questions for the learned on this forum as there is sparse information on the internet with respect to the wine itself.

- Firstly is not numbered so preceedes the numbering system Seppelts introduced in the mid 70's so is at least 45 or so years old, is there any way of dating it beyond that ?.

I found the following on the Seppeltsfield website here [url]https://seppeltsfield.com.au/para-origins/[/url]

The 1922 release was followed by 1925, 1927, 1930, 1933, 1939, 1944 & 1947. The vintage date on these first Para Liqueur releases however related to the oldest component of the Tawny blend, meaning that the wine was not singularly from the year depicted on the label. In the mid-1970s, due to a change of labelling legislation, these Para Liqueur bottlings evolved to known as the ‘Number Series’, 26 released in total, 101 – 126.

That was news to me as I has always assumed they were single vintage. So having the year on the bottle was a bit cheeky as it isn't accurate.
I have a 1947 sitting at home so I had a look. I'm pretty sure I had checked previously but there is no bottling date on it. My assumption is that it is probably an average age of around the 20 year mark but I could be wrong.

Barney wrote: - Secondly should I decant and for how long ?, my concern is that if I leave it too long in a decanter oxidisation may become an issue.

Oxidisation is something you shouldn't have to worry about as Para is Oxidative style. I'd give it quite a few hours as the older tawnys can be a bit dusty and need a bit of time for that to blow off. (assuming that it will blow off. Sometimes they don't and remain a bit dusty.

I should mention that there was a 1978 release. I picked a couple up at auction somewhere around 2010 -2012 for not all that much really... maybe $30ish. I've had them both with the last one being in 2018 for a friend's 40th. Very intense and sweet with distinct flavour of burnt orange and toffee and was absolutely delicious.