Bleasdale 18 Year Old Rare Tawny Port 500ml, Langhorne Creek

Bleasdale has a long-established history with fortified wines, its roof space stacked with old oak barrels slowly evaporating and concentrating. This blend, averaging a minimum of 18 years, is grenache-dominant, with support from shiraz, verdelho, tinta roriz, tinta madeira, red frontignac and touriga. A mid–deep amber rather than the heavier tawny expected in a wine of such age. It tells us of the freshness to follow, a hallmark of the wine, with vibrant baking spice, beautifully delicate timbered backdrops, the faintest of nutty rancio just appearing. Importantly, no cloying finish – rather, refreshing, clean and vibrant. Fabulous.

98 points Tony Love winecompanion.com.au

 Gold Medal Langhorne Creek Wine Show 2017

Bleasdale has a long history of producing fortified wines and thanks to the foresight of previous winemakers, some pretty good stocks.
One of the main features of Bleasdale fortified wines is the maturation conditions. Langhorne Creek is quite a cool maritime climate, which helps retain freshness and acidity in the grapes as well as maturing wines. Old oak barrels are stashed high into the rafters under the hot tin roof to encourage evaporation and concentration, but Langhorne Creek is significantly cooler than many other traditional fortified regions so freshness is largely retained.

This rare tawny is Grenache dominant, but is blended with Shiraz, Red Frontignac, Tinta Madeira, Tinta Roriz, Verdelho and Touriga. Blended to a minimum age of 18 years and has great spice with brandy snap and walnut rancio, hints of chocolate and a clean fresh finish.