Had a bit of time wandering through Dan Murhys yesterday, particularly their fortified wines. I do love a good port.

Came across this little baby.  375 ml so the size of a can of beer.  The writeup online is quite good.

Anyone tried it.

I think I need a nice Roquefort cheese to go with it now.


Quote:

JMK Shiraz VP is deep purple-black in colour. Leaping from the glass are inviting aromatics of blackcurrant, raisin, dark cherry, licorice, ripe plum, fruit cake, marzipan, perfume and mature brandy. The palate is equally as alluring with flavours of rich black fruits, chocolate and coffee. Mouth-filling and full-bodied, these solid fruit flavours are complexed with characteristic but balanced brandy spirit. Natural grape sweetness is well restrained, smartly complimenting the primary fruit. There are very fine tannins and subtle oak maturation characters adding further structure and complexity. A suitably dry and lengthy finish further enhances this refined wine. JMK is a harmonious and opulent wine that can beenjoyed now or after a decade or more in the cellar ########## JMK Shiraz VP is a luscious fortified Shiraz grown and vintaged on the Kalleske family farm at Greenock in the North-Western Barossa Valley. This wine is dedicated to fifth generation grapegrower, John Malcolm Kalleske (JMK), who has tended the Kalleske family vineyards for more than 50 years. The vineyard for this special wine was hand pruned and harvested by John. JMK Shiraz reflects the dedication of John and the generations before him to the treasured Kalleske vineyard. VINTAGE: Vintage 2012 was a fantastic year. The wines from 2012 are outstanding and up there with 2010 and 2002 as the best wines to come out of our Kalleske winery. Vintage 2012 began with a good growing season of moderate rainfall and normal temperatures. Summer and Autumn were perfect with generally warm sunny days and only a few heat periods but nothing extreme. The weather was generally dry with an occasional shower of rain refreshing the vines. The perfect mid-high 20s weather ensured the grapes ripened steadily and evenly producing outstanding quality. VINEYARD: Kalleske JMK Shiraz VP is sourced from select blocks of the Kalleske vineyard, including the renowned ‘Greenock’ block. The vineyard blocks consists of shallow, sandy loam soil over superb deep red clay and limestone, providing ideal conditions for Shiraz vines. WINEMAKING: WINEMAKINGThe grapes were harvested in 2 batches over 3 weeks providing differing sweetness and complexity for the finished wine. Following harvest, the grapes were fermented in open top fermenters with hand pump-overs or plunging twice a day. Sweetness and flavours of the fermenting grapes were closely monitored and when at desired levels for each batch, at 3-5 days after harvest, grape spirit was added, arresting the fermentation to retain some natural grape sweetness. A combination of young and old (up to 20 years) brandy spirit was used to fortify the wine, ensuring added complexity. For one batch a portion of free-run juice was drained from the fermenter prior to fortifying whereas the other batch was fortified on skins and soaked for 17 days before pressing. Following fortification, the wine was matured in well seasoned hogsheads for eighteen months. At this time, only the very best barrels were selected to be included in the bottling of this liqueur Shiraz.

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Kalleske are less than a ten minute walk from here. In fact I walked past them this morning.

We had some at Christmas (with some lovely Christmas cake) and quite enjoyed it. It may have possibly been the 2020 or 2019 though.

However, if you really need us to, we can wander down and try it again, just to make sure?

We decided to reacquaint ourselves with the port in question.

We dropped in on our way home from lunch.

It is a reasonably sweet , though far from sickly sweet. A lightish mouthfeel with lots of complex fruit and almost floral flavours.

Toni suggests that she gets a hint of rum Christmas pudding.

I would enjoy sipping it next to a fire with a cheese plate or some dried fruit and nuts.

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Colin, do you recall the bottle price?  I think this was $26.

We have a sheep dairy here in the valley who make their own cheeses.  I know they do a nice blue ewes milk cheese and while I don’t expect it to be up there with the French Roquefort I will try and get some before I open this little baby.

Cellar door price for the 2021 is $25 (375 ml).

The 2007 is $39 but they weren't tasting that...

Yeah, Dan Murphy only had the 2021 vintage.