Wines of the Month
2005 Tscharke Lumberjack Fortified Touriga Nacional
Barossa Valley, South Australia
It really feels like its about to start snowing outside. It’d be a first for the Mornington Peninsula, but it feels like anything could happen with the weather these days. On such a chilly night, nothing but a big rich fortified red will do and a new wine from Tscharke is ticking all the boxes.
Deep purple in colour, this juicy fortified wine is made from a variety from Portugal one of a family of varieties used for port – that Damian Tscharke’s family has been growing at Seppeltsfield since the mid-eighties.
He made a delicious table wine (2010 Matching Socks), which is sadly sold out – rich and dark, with very grown-up aromas of liquorice, violets, macerated raspberries and boysenberries and some bitter dark chocolate, and the flavours and tannins reminiscent of freshly brewed Orange Pekoe tea. The fortified wine has all this and more. The aromas and flavours are more concentrated and intense than in the table wine, with vibrant brandy spirit fortifying the wine up to 18% and bringing out the juicy fruitcake notes that can’t help but make me think of Christmas!
The wine is named for Damian’s grandfather who was a lumberjack and loved his fortifieds! Buy a dozen and drink some now and put the rest in the cellar for another few decades!!
Price $30 (500ml bottle)
© Kate McIntyre May 2011
Wine Diva Wines of the Month, June 2011
