Festive fortified wines to cheer and warm us
Tesco Finest LBV Port, Douro, Portugal 2017 (£13.50, Tesco) Such is the strength of its association with that most festive of cheeses, stilton, Port, I suspect, remains the Christmas fortified wine for a vast majority of people. It’s a position I agree with to the extent that I can’t imagine being without a bottle or two at this time of year, even as I would argue that this great Portuguese wine can be every bit as wonderful well after the decorations have come down. The choice this year could come from the following bottles, starting with two own-label staples: the dark, brambly berry and black-cherry-rich Late Bottled Vintage style made for Tesco by the reliable British shippers, Symington Family Estates, and the softer, dried fruit, and fresh-packet-of-muscovado sugar stylings of the wood-aged M&S 10 Year Old Tawny Port NV (£20) made for M&S by Taylor’s. I’d also be tempted by the sumptuous, complex, perfectly ready-to-drink single-quinta vintage port, Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos 2012 (£33.99, Waitrose).
Gonzalez Byass Matusalem 30 Year Old Oloroso, Jerez, Spain NV (from £25.49, 37.5cl, waitrosecellar.com; majestic.co.uk; oxfordwine.co.uk) Another reason why I object to giving port a seasonal monopoly is that there are so many other wonderful fortified wines around that are capable of playing the same cheeseboard-accompanying or mellow evening-sipping roles. That other great Portuguese fortified, Madeira, for example, is an ideal alternative to cognac, whisky and rum, and, a bottling such as the Christmas cake-rich but zesty Henriques & Henriques 5YO Single Vineyard Verdelho, Madeira NV (£19, oxfordwine.co.uk) comes with the added benefit of clocking in at less than half the alcohol of your favourite brown spirit. Much the same can be said of age-dated sherries, such as the magnificently, portentously named Matusalem from Gonzalez Byass, the makers of the always-excellent, light dry fino sherry, Tio Pepe. As an aged oloroso style, it has none of that Marmitey yeasty hit you get from fino and manzanilla, offering instead a gliding, sweetly satisfying hit of figs, dates, and chocolate orange.
Dandelion Vineyards Legacy of Australia XXXO Pedro Ximénez, Barossa Valley, Australia NV (from £17.50, 37.5cl, aitkenwines.com; oxfordwine.co.uk; bcfw.co.uk) Now that Australia is firmly established as the UK’s leading supplier of table wines, it’s easy to forget that the country also has a long tradition of making fortified wines. Some of those styles are very explicitly inspired by the European classics. Penfolds, the name behind the esteemed Grange and other fine Australian reds and whites, has a neat line in port-alikes, such as the delightful sweetly nutty and spicy Penfolds 10 Year Old Father Tawny NV (£25.99, majestic.co.uk; laithwaites.co.uk); while Dandelion Vineyards’ XXXO is reminiscent of a PX Sherry in its dark raisined and molasses lusciousness. But Australia also has its own sui generis fortified wine style, from the Rutherglen region of Victoria. Made by allowing muscat grapes to dry on the vine, and then ageing the resulting wines for years in barrels in hot dry storehouses rather than cool, damp cellars, wines such as Campbells Rutherglen Muscat NV (£14.49, 37.5cl, Waitrose) are super-dark, rich and are even sweet and strong enough to drink with Christmas pudding.
