Love em! Port is made from ripe grapes, partially fermented, before adding grape spirit (even a little brandy) to give a rich sweet wine that’s a cross between a dry red and the sweeter “fortified” wines.
The best VP’s need cellaring. 21 years is nothing for the best examples. Made from a single years grapes, they are aged in the bottle rather than in barrel, so they need to be drunk over 1-2 days rather than weeks. Pass the bottle to “Port”, don’t let it hit the table!
Gayfer’s at Chiltern made what I consider the best Aussie VP style ever in the late 60’s through to 1980 from 100% Durif. Morris’s also used it as part of theirs. The huge colour, morello cherry fruit and great tannin, is at the heart of VP. Aussie Durif, at its best, is an awesome base.
Too many Aussie VP’s these days aren’t. They are sweeter, lighter styles with loads of Portugese varieties. They can be massive and huge in Portugal in a great year, but make Rubies and tawnies most times. Here with limited plantings, we get second rate fruit, attempting to replicate the best examples in the world . Good luck with that! I’ll just try and make the very best of what I’ve experienced.
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