Wine with Leslie: Fortify your wine rack as winter arrives with these selections
Pic: iStock
If it is wintery outside and approaching Christmas it is time to look to the fortified section of your local off-licence. I drink Sherry, Port and Madeira all year but I admit November and December is when it works best.
Top vintage Port used to cost much the same as top Bordeaux like Château Margeaux and Ch. Latour, these days it is a tenth of the price making Vintage and aged Tawny Port amazing value (and it can age 100 years).
This Christmas I’ll mostly be drinking aged Tawny Port, inspired by an extraordinary tasting where I sampled a dozen aged Ports from Kopke, the oldest of the Port houses (1638).
Tawny and barrel-aged whites are their speciality but their entry-level Ruby (€20) was also delicious with glacé cherry and sweet cranberry fruits while the LBV 2018 (€28) was noticeably darker and more intense.
Kopke Fine White Port meanwhile tasted of dried pears and apple skins and would make a great cheese wine, but the older Whites like the 10-Year Old (€55) and Colheita 2008 doubled and tripled down on these flavours adding in baked apricots.
The highlight was the 1934 Tawny which had smoky old mahogany aromas mixed with treacle and caramelised endive, while the 1974 Tawny (Blackrock Cellars, Pinto) reminded me of Christmas Pudding mixed with grilled melon and almonds. The Kopke Colheita 2004 (Matsons) meanwhile had BBQ pears mixed with dried red berries.
Don’t neglect other fortified wines either, Lustau Blanco Vermut (€23) works great on ice, and you can’t beat a good aperitif Fino, Manzanilla or Amontillado.
Try: Barbadillo (JJ O’Driscolls), Callejuela (MacCurtain), Lustau or Diatomists (see below).
And then there is Madeira. Justino’s (Bradleys, O’Briens) is recommended. Think lemon toffee sweetness, but so much acidity you don’t notice; a thimbleful will fill your senses.
- Lustau Pedro Ximinez ‘San Emilio’ Sherry
- 37.5cl, €20
- Bradleys; MacCurtain; Ardkeen; Mitchellandson.com
Christmas Pudding in a bottle — viscous, luscious and sweet with raisins and dried fig flavours, rich enough to pour over ice cream; and yet with surprising acidity despite the richness.
Serve well chilled with Christmas cake or mince pies. Lustau East India Solera is also recommended, a blend of PX with dry Oloroso so medium-sweet.
- Diatomists Amontillado Sherry Single Botas
- 37.5cl, €27
- Matsons; WinesDirect.ie Athlone & Mullingar
This Amontillado is part of a fine new Sherry range from WinesDirect - a honey gold hue with aromas of caramelised hazelnuts and dried fruits, flavours of salty sultanas but bone dry with length and complexity.
The Medium is tangy and balanced, the PX is chocolate and figs, and the Manzanilla tastes of preserved lemons and seasides.
- Kopke 10 Year Old Tawny Port
- €36
- Matsons; Bradleys; Blackrock Cellar; 64wine.ie
Kopke specialise in Tawny and aged white ports and their range is remarkably consistent.
This is a blend of wines aged an average 10 years in small barrels.
Fig and dried fruit aromas, baked fruit flavours with hints of spice - perfect for cheese, pudding or on its own in front of the fire.
- Baoilleach Donegal Mountain Dew, Five-Cask, 56.1% ABV
- 70cl , €55
- Only from: baoilleachdistillery.ie
Michael R. O’Boyle founded Baoilleach Distillery in 2022 overlooking Mulroy Bay (cf: Mulroy Bay Poitín).
The focus is on peat and diverse distillation styles with just 50-100 casks annually.
This is a limited edition (150 bottles) - a blend of young Pot Still, Single Malt and Column Still from 5 casks including Port, Marsala, Bourbon & Virgin.
Smoked heather and baked apple aromas, beautifully smooth and honeyed on the palate with pepper and clove and a lightly peated butterscotch finish.
A gorgeous drink for such a young spirit.
