1926
Queen Elizabeth II, Marilyn Monroe and Fidel Castro were born; John Logie Baird demonstrated television for the first time, Franco was promoted to Brigadier General in the Spanish Army, Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket, Rudolph Valentino died, Buster Keaton's 'The General' was the top film and Jelly Roll Morton release "Black Bottom Stomp". It's 1926 and this was tucked away into barrel. Monumental, other worldly and unique, the wine is a national treasure. A tawny of incredible depth and stature; a singularity of intense flavour. Liquid dried fruits, candied nuts, mahogany, fruitcake with a thick slather of marzipan, cigar humidor, dark caramel, espresso concentrate, candied figs, wood spice and citrus rind. There's an incredible unctuous texture, upon its surface the light shifts; chiaroscuro in an aqueous form, things flit in and out of view. You get lost in it. It's just epic.
1925
In 1925, New York overtook London to become the largest city in the world, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler's influence was rising, F. Scott Fitzgerald released The Great Gatsby, the Jazz Age was in full swing, and this was tucked away in barrel. That never ceases to blow my mind. It's a singularity of aroma and flavour. Dried fruits in an aqueous solution, candied nuts, mahogany, molasses, marzipan, fancy cigar lounge, espresso liqueur, candied figs and prunes, wood spice and citrus rind. It's in constant movement; light filters in and out, highlighting certain characters, casting shadow on others, in an ever-moving state of change. It's kinetic and endlessly complex and there ain't nothing else like it in the world. It really is a national treasure.
1924
It blows my mind that when this wine was first lovingly tucked away, the world was still swaying from World War I, the first successful around-the-world flight began, Mahatma Gandhi was released from prison and Marlon Brando and Lauren Bacall were born. It's a monumental wine. A tawny of such depth and concentration that it seems reduced to an essence, a singularity of complex aromas and flavours. Liquid dried fruits, candied hazelnuts, mahogany, molasses, rich marzipan-iced fruitcake, cigar lounge, dark caramel, espresso liquor, candied figs, wood spice and citrus rind. New aromas and flavours constantly ghost in and out of frame; the light changes, you marvel at the wines warm velvet flow, its length of flavour, how you're going to get that stain out of your glassware. And then you close your eyes and let it envelop you. It's an epic wine and a national treasure.
1923
The wine is every bit as awesome as its predecessors, the intensity and the flavours lingering in the mouth for a seemingly endless time. Its acidity has none of the edgy cuts that can sometimes need a spice-laden biscuit or chocolate to tame the acidity, though don't feel embarrassed if you have either one or both anyway. 100 points? Of course. It is the one and only wine whose history, past, present and future demand it. But that's not all. The design team has risen to create a stunning upgrade of the box and the print on the 100ml bottle in which this nectar of the gods is sold.
1922
There's no surprise that this release easily lives up to its rare 100-point rating. The heady bouquet (as usual) is followed by a palate of pure joy; as it enters the mouth, the viscous big bass drum beats with every known spice, and every known preserved and dried fruit. Then the finish has the acidity to provide balance, but the sometimes searing spear of volatile acidity doesn't heat the aftertaste. In the world of wine, no other winery makes a vintage-dated 100yo release of truly extraordinary complexity.
1921
The finest parcels of grenache, shiraz and mourvedre, full composition unknown. Fortified with brandy spirit, aged in old oak barrels. ~3% evaporates each year; it is topped and transferred to smaller barrels over 100 years. $700 for 100ml, $2000 for 375ml. If persistence, longevity, complexity and concentration are the ultimate marks of greatness, Para is in a league all of its own. In this bottle, 100 summers and 100 winters have amassed an explosive power, sheer viscosity and mesmerising complexity impossible to articulate in words. A drop is all it takes to transport you into its universe where time stands still and you are held in suspended animation for minutes. Utterly transfixing.
1920
I describe this wine (not this vintage) at length in the winery summary, but I have to tell you that the sheer intensity of the 1920 is breathtaking – it has taken my breath away. Repetitious, but there it is.
1919
For details of this wine please view the Seppeltsfield winery summary.
1918
This utterly unique wine is a flavour (and bouquet) black hole in space. It comes to you with speed and intensity more akin to a space rocket, rather than any wine or spirit you have dreamt of. The smallest sip reaches every taste bud in your mouth as you watch the remaining wine on the sides of the glass apply a near-waterproof coat of dark burnt umber colour to the sides. If the searing intensity of the flavour, the bottle, the presentation box, and my 100-point rating (it's the only wine I accord this score) is not enough, then let me say there is no other vintage wine in the world released annually after 100 years in barrel, 100% of the given age. Over time it has lost 66% of its original volume in the barrel, hence the concentration. It is sold in a specially designed and made 100ml bottle in its hinged wooden box.
1917
The consistency is not far short of treacle, pouring reluctantly from the bottle to the glass, and even more reluctantly from the glass into the mouth, which is already quivering like a bird dog after swirling the glass to savour the toweringly rich and complex bouquet. The aromas are a distillation of every spice you have ever encountered, whether on its own, mixed with others, or in a fruit compote, or a Christmas cake or pudding. An electric current trickles into the mouth along with the wine when you can't bear waiting any longer before taking your first sip and your senses spin. 100ml.
1916
This release should by rights be 100+ points; it adds another layer of velvety richness, and flavours of chocolate and preserved figs which join the more usual treacle, burnt toffee and molasses. The bouquet has signalled these flavours and more, before you take the first sip. The other X-factor with this vintage is the way this glorious array first fills the mouth without the normal (extreme) level of rancio, but swings into top gear with rancio verve and bite on the back-palate, finish and aftertaste, which is very nearly without end. 100ml.
1915
There is no other wine in the world with as much explosive power as this; 100ml is the equivalent of 1500ml of conventional wine, or 500ml of Rare Rutherglen Tokay or Muscat. The first micro-sip sends all the senses of taste into a frenzy, with burnt toffee, treacle and molasses magically balanced and freshened by rancio and, even more, acidity. The aroma of the wine will stay in the empty glass for an hour or more, as will its viscosity stain the glass dark mahogany. 100ml.
1914
Deep, dark mahogany; pours like treacle, literally stains the walls of the glass and won't let go; burnt molasses; 100-year-old balsamic vinegar; this doesn't explode in the mouth, it implodes, a black hole in space sucking everything into it. All this achieved in the smallest sip. 100ml.
1913
Procure the smallest capacity crystal glass to taste this wine, a micro-sip goes a very long way. The deepest burnt umber colour imaginable; so viscous it doesn't pour, just oozes out of the bottle, thickly coating the sides of the glass, slowly separating into slowly retreating separate streams, creating an effect like marble. The hyper-intense flavours of raisin, burnt toffee and plum pudding search out every nook and cranny of your mouth, the aftertaste lingering for an impossibly long time.
1912
Dark burnt umber; the wine paints the sides of the glass when swirled, the bouquet rearing out of the glass like a dragon from the bowels of the earth; exceptionally viscous and thick, it also paints the interior of the mouth, liberating its rainbow of aromas and flavours in a merry-go-round that will continue for as long as you have a few precious drops in the glass. Thereafter, the bouquet will seem equally as potent in the empty glass. The points of 100 have been given for several vintages now, and will be so in the future, simply because this wine is utterly unique in the world as an annual 100% 100-year-old commercial release, and while there may be some genuine single vintage, very old tawny ports in Portugal, they will be few and far between. Superbly packaged and presented. 100 ml.
1911
Impenetrable colour, staining the glass as it is swirled, unbelievably viscous and thick. One of the keys is the acidity and the volatile acidity: here perfect, for without the acidity the wine would be intolerably sweet; the harmony of the fruit/acid balance carries the wine on airborne wings.
1910
The colour is verging on black, so dark is it; a wine of unique power and intensity; burnt toffee, deeper, darker flavours than the 1911, but still emerges at the end with a fresh aftertaste. A 100 ml bottle goes a long way, because you will only take micro-sips, believe me.
1909
Almost into black, so dark is the burnt umber colour; paints the sides of the glass when swirled, the aromas of burnt toffee and raisin Christmas cake; anything more than a micro-sip is superfluous (although a number of micro-sips isn't); the sheer intensity of the impact of the wine in the mouth is awesome, the flavours tracking the bouquet until the rancio and acidity of the finish take over, and last for minutes.
1908
The colour is slightly less dense than that of the 1918, yet paints the glass so thoroughly it resists attempts to rinse it. It combine all the expected intensity with an unexpected degree of elegance. (Tasted on its own, elegance would likely be the last thing in your mind, but such is the comparative element of all mega-tastings of great wines.) An extra element of spice and cedar appears moments before the flavours surge across the palate, then emphatic rancio on a finish which knows no end.
1907
The usual honey, treacle consistency, the olive-green/brown wine staining the sides of the glass as it is swirled; offers cinnamon stick, every spice known to man, grandma's Christmas pudding and a hundred other things; the senses almost go into free-fall, so intense and complex is the wine. The length is extraordinary, and all the components (including volatile acidity) are exactly as they should be. In prior years I have given the wine 98 points, which is clearly wrong. This is the one and only 100-point wine made in Australia. Cork.
1906
Honey, treacle, consistency; impenetrable olive-brown colour; a nuclear explosion of flavour starting with Christmas pudding, molasses and chocolate, ending miraculously balanced by perfect acidity. One of the great ones.
1904
Impenetrable olive brown; a deep, concentrated bouquet with wood, earth, briar and chocolate aromas intermingling. The palate is tremendously rich and chewy with dark chocolate, toffee and plum pudding flavours, followed by that omnipresent (and very necessary) acidity on the finish.
1987
Dark olive-brown, tinged with green, and pours like viscous oil; the bouquet leaps out of the glass, with cascades of aroma; plum pudding, toffee and the works lifted by the touch of volatility one always encounters. The tiniest sip is overwhelming, drawing saliva from every corner of the mouth; incredibly concentrated and essency.
1986
Dark dense brown, merging into olive; a penetrating, intense bouquet with typical rancio and a degree of volatility. Toffee, crème brûlée, plum pudding and spice aromas and flavours run through both bouquet and palate. An overwhelmingly powerful, rich and pungently long wine to be sipped and savoured in minute quantities.
1984
Deep olive-brown in colour; powerful aromas of briar, chocolate, earth, plum pudding and toffee lead on to a wine of almost unbelievable intensity, hugely powerful with dark briary/berry/plum pudding flavours and surprisingly powerful tannins. The acid is a perfect counterbalance to the intensely sweet and rich mid-palate.
1984
Dark brown with an olive rim; the bouquet is intense and harmonious with raisiny fruit, toffee, brandysnap and a touch of caramel backed by high spirit and rancio. The palate is as harmonious as the bouquet promises, with similar brandysnap, toffee and chocolate flavours, finishing with cleansing acidity.
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