Wine By Nine

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Broadbent from Portugal. Aged in oak casks for at least 5 years. A delicious, full-bodied and rich dessert wine, with an excellent balance between sweetness and acidity.

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Graham's from Portugal. Six Grapes has a seductive, rich aroma of ripe plums, cherries and dark chocolate notes. On the palate it's complex, with an excellent structure and a long, lingering finish. Six Grapes is one of Graham's original Port blends--it is a very full-bodied, luscious wine drawn from the same vineyards as Graham's Vintage Ports. Blended from two or three years' harvests, the wine is an average of five to six years old when it is lightly filtered and bottled. Serving and pairing suggestions Six Grapes is bottled ready to drink after about five years of cask aging. It has a t-cap closure, which means that you don't need a corkscrew to open it and that it should stay fresh for up to two months if stored in a cool, dark place or the refrigerator. Serve it in a glass with at least a six ounce capacity so that you may appreciate the wine's aromas. Six Grapes pairs particularly well with dark chocolate, but is also fantastic on its own as a luscious dessert in a glass.

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Croft from Portugal. This is a Vintage Character Port which is a blend of Ports which have been aged in wood for four to five years to produce wines of greater complexity than their younger counterparts. A port with attractive, intense fresh fruit aromas and flavours. Premium reserve port of superior age and quality. Vigorous but silky taste. Very consistent bottle to bottle. Decanting is not required. Enjoy for many months.

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Ramos Pinto from Portugal. This ruby port has a vibrant youthful color, with a red-brown rim that is the only visual concession to maturity. It has full aromas unveiling dry plum, fig and berry scents with a touch of pepper. On the palate, the attack is soft and succulent. This is a rich, subtle wine with a fine, generous structure and remarkable persistence. The Collector is an excellent accompaniment to mild cheeses and sweet dark chocolate. An unfiltered vintage character port is a blend of several excellent vintages aged in wood for about six years. The wine retains its delicate fruity aromas while gaining the patina and roundness of age. The Collector gives wine drinkers the opportunity to experience a vintage quality wine without laying it down for years

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Dow's from Portugal. Dow's 2000 Late Bottled Vintage Port is a fine value and marries delicious red fruit flavors with dark cocoa power and a slightly spicy, vibrant finish. It is made from a single year's harvest (in this case, 2000) and then aged for four years in oak casks. (The term late bottled vintage is because Vintage Port is aged for two years and then bottled with the intention of further bottle aging.) The extra aging helps it develop more quickly. Serving and pairing suggestions Given its extra aging, the Dow's LBV is bottled ready to drink. It has a t-cap closure, which means that you don't need a corkscrew to open it and that it will stay fresh for up to two months if stored in a cool, dark place or refrigerator. Serve it in a glass with at least a six ounce capacity so that you may appreciate the wine's aromas. It is delicious with dark chocolate or blue cheeses such as Point Reyes Original Blue.

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Dow's from Portugal. These wines come from the same vineyards that, in a year when a Vintage is declared, produce Vintage Port. However, as they are bottled between the fourth and sixth year after the harvest, they mature more quickly and are ready to drink much sooner. Dow's LBV is a full rich Port with spicy ripe fruit flavors and an elegant aromatic nose. Well rounded on the palate and has the traditional Dow's drier finish.

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Alvear from Spain. The vineyards, located at an elevation of 1,050 feet, are comprised of the famous chalky soil called Albariza and the 40-year-old vines produce extremely low yields. The grapes were hand-harvested at the peak of maturity and dried on mats in the sun. This is one of the oldest wines in the cellar since the Solera was started at the beginning of the last century. The impressive 1927 Pedro Ximenez Solera, from a Solera begun nearly 80 years ago, boasts a dark amber color as well as an extraordinary nose of creme brulee, liquefied nuts, marmalade, and maple syrup. Huge and viscous, yet neither cloyingly sweet nor heavy, it is a profound effort priced unbelievably low. Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate 96 Points

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Yalumba from Barossa Valley, Australia. Four decades ago my father Wyndham initiated the practice of putting aside a few barrels of each years production of our deluxe tawny ports. Known in the cellar as Antique Tawny, these wines are left to quietly mature in various corners of our marble cellars. During this ageing process, evaporation (known as the Angels Share) occurs at between 2.5% and 4.5% each and every year. Our master port blender, David Doc Zimmermann, then painstakingly assembles a wine with an average age of over 15 years - rich and concentrated, it is an important part of Australias wine heritage. COLOUR: Deep tawny with green tinges around the edges indicating prolonged aging in wood. BOUQUET: Intense wood aged rancio featuring dried fruits, chocolate and caramel. Elegant brandy spirit adds sweet vanillin and oak complexity. PALATE: Rich and soft in the middle. Complex rancio flavours with persistent nutty caramel aftertaste. Fine spirit characters balance the sweetness producing an elegant drying finish.

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Domecq from Spain. La Ina is considered by many critics to be one of the benchmark Spanish Finos. Bone-dry with a lovely pale-straw hue, this medium-bodied sherry features fresh apple, almond and yeast flavors from its biological aging under a protective layer of flor yeast. La Ina is an ideal companion for olives, nuts, cheese, anchovies, sardines, shrimp or grilled sausages, and should always be served well chilled.

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Coppo from Piedmont, Italy. Made from 100% Moscato d'Asti grown in hillside vineyards and harvested in mid-September. The must is fermented in tank until the wine has reached 5.5% alcohol. Aging is minimal, resulting in a bright yellow wine with pale highlights and a fine perlage. The bouquet is refreshing and delicate with aromas of peach, pear and the characteristic fragrance of Moscato. Moncalvina is an elegant, slightly sweet and sparkling wine.

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Quady from California. From 100% Orange Muscat with an aroma reminiscent of Orange Blossom and Apricot, and a lingering refreshing aftertaste, Essensia is used as a dessert accompaniment or a dessert in itself. The Orange Muscat grape variety is little known. It was once grown in France and there are some small plantings in Italy and Australia. The wine is lightly fortified to about 15% alcohol and aged for 3 months in French Oak. Its relatively high acidity makes it taste balanced, even with its considerable sweetness, more like the taste of fresh fruit than an old fashioned sticky sweet muscat.

Dessert, Fortified & Fruit Wine by Yalumba from Barossa Valley, Australia. The non-vintage Museum Reserve Muscat is exotic, full-bodied, rich, and sweet. It spent 7 years in wood, and was bottled from a solera system. This amber-hued, rich, unctuously-textured effort boasts luscious aromas and flavors of marmalade, figs, chocolate, melted caramel, toffee, and prunes. Once again, Australia proves this country is hard to beat when it comes to their fortified after-dinner wines, which still sell for a song. - Wine Advocate The production of premium fortified wine has long been part of the history at Yalumba. Founder Samuel Smith first made port back in the 1860s, and the South Australian Governor (1914-1920) Sir Henry L Galway selected his own personal pipes from the Yalumba bodega. Today Yalumba maintains its reputation for its premium quality fortified wines by occasionally releasing very small parcels of Show Reserve stocks. This old Muscat was sourced from the Rutherglen and other Northern traditional areas of Victoria then blended and stored in French oak puncheons in our marble cellars at Angaston for eight years. Made from the red and pink clones of the Muscat, a petite grains grape variety, this luscious dessert wine displays all the characteristics of this classic Australian wine style. Color: Deep tawny red. Bouquet: Classic rose petal and orange rind of the Muscat grape. Palate: Full, luscious middle. Richly flavored, reminiscent of raisined fruits, nuts and spices. Sweet and soft yet unclaying finish. Incredible persistence of flavors.