Made from our estate grown Shiraz fruit. This variety is not one of the traditional Portuguese port varieties, but has long played a role in the Australian version of this classic style. It easily reaches high sugar levels whilst retaining plenty of jammy fruit. When making Vintage Port (VP) the fruit is allowed to sit on the vine to get extra ripe.

VP is one of the trickiest wines to make. The winemaker starts with grapes of a known sugar level (and hence alcohol potential) and crushes them. The grapes start to ferment, using up sugar and making alcohol. At some point the winemaker wants to stop the fermentation by adding spirit to kill off the yeast, taking the alcohol to 18% and leaving the wine still sweet. In theory it is pretty straightforward, but in practice, the maths gets quite complicated. In my experience the crucial timing of the fortification almost always involves staying up all night in the middle of vintage. Once fortified the wine is run to barrel or tank for maturation and is then bottled.

Vintage Port has a natural partner in strong cheese. A glass of port matched with rich and tangy blues and sharp crumbly hard cheeses, with a few walnuts to crack and some crunchy apples is the perfect end to a traditional winter Sunday lunch.