Decanter organised a masterclass featuring top-scoring fortified wines at ProWine Singapore 2024 on 25th April 2024.
Fortified wine is a category that has gradually gained interest in the Singapore market in recent years.
The masterclass entitled The Great Fortifieds – Sherry & Tawny Port was hosted by Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) Asia Regional Chair Poh Tiong Ch’ng.
Four Sherries and three Tawny Ports from DWWA 2023 were presented to a full house of 40+ wine professionals from Southeast Asia, including one of the Best in Show medal-winners and three Golds.
Search all DWWA 2023 results
DWWA 2023: Top award-winning fortified wines featured at ProWine Singapore
Gonzalez Byass, Tio Pepe Dos Palmas, Fino Sherry, Spain NV
Gold, 96 points
(15.5%), 100% Palomino
Ardent levels of toasted millet seed, green olive and macadamia nut wrapped in a luminous citrus perfume. A very impressive builder which unfurls and persists.
Valdespino, Tío Diego, Amontillado Sherry, Spain NV
Gold, 96 points
(18%), 100% Palomino
Smoky charred wood and roasted almonds interwoven with a breeze of crushed sea shells and grated lemon zest, with a shapely viscosity and a long, spicy finish.
Gonzalez Byass, Leonor, Palo Cortado Sherry, Spain NV
Gold, 96 points
(20%), 100% Palomino
A stunning delicacy of orange blossom, dried apples and hazelnuts with a provocative lemon sherbet freshness; expansive and rich with a well-defined Palo Cortado typicity.
Valdespino, Solera 1842, V.O.S Oloroso Sherry, Spain NV
Silver, 92 points
(21%), 90% Palomino, 10% Pedro Ximenez
Complex and attractive rancio nose, with notes of roast figs, baked plums and orange peel. Rich concentration and persistent finish.
Burmester, Colheita Port, Portugal 2007
Silver, 94 points
(20%), 25% Touriga Nacional, 25% Touriga Franca, 25% Tinta Barroca, 25% Tinta Roriz
Attractive russet tawny colour, ripe red fruit on the nose. Leather and cigar box on the palate, some coffee too.
Kopke, 20 Years Old Tawny Port, Portugal NV
Silver, 94 points
(20%), 30% Tinta Barroca, 25% Touriga Nacional, 25% Tinta Roriz, 20% Tinta Franca
Woody nose adding to the raisin and dates yet fresh and elegant on the palate. A complex, long finish.
Cálem, 40 Year Old Tawny Port, Portugal NV
Best in Show, 97 points
(20%), 25% Touriga Franca, 25% Touriga Nacional, 25% Tinta Barroca, 25% Tinta Roriz
Tawny ports with an indication of age, such as this 40-Year-Old, are distinctively different from Colheitas (or vintage-dated Tawny Ports). The blending process involved gives them a lifted, perfumed quality and a silky, lithe, aerial grace which, combined with the concentration which is the natural legacy of age, makes them perhaps the subtlest, most haunting and most seductive of all of the world’s grand old fortifieds. This wine is a light russet-walnut in colour, with refined and graceful scents in which you might find vanilla, unlit Havana cigar leaf, petitgrain spice, dried orange peel and the oily perfumes of Mediterranean wild flowers. On the palate, the wine is so smooth and seamless, fresh, light and graceful as to be almost disarming; its raisin and milk-chocolate fruit mingles with orange peel and lemon peel; and it has a tender, enquiring acidity that comes as a surprise, too. One sip leads to another; before you know it, the glass will be empty.