A shot of Seppeltsfield 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny 1889

Does glassware matter?  I’ve been to a couple of Riedel tastings which demonstrate what a difference it can make (reported here and here).  But by and large, I am not too precious about my glassware, though I was recently caught out swirling a wine glass of water!

I confess, I do like a stem.  Part of the pleasure I take in wine is the build up to tasting it – the swirling of the glass to enjoy its colour, to gauge its weight (how it rolls around/coats the glass) and, of course, to unleash and intensify aromas and flavours.  And the thinner/finer the glass the better – it’s the wine you want to experience, not the glass.

So much as I appreciate the fortified wine industry’s  desire to ‘contemporise’ (if you can say premiumisation, I can have contemporise) their product, I am not sure that Seppeltsfield’s idea to present this wine in a shot glass is the way to go.

In fact, if you think about it, the point of a shot glass is to get shot of the contents ASAP in one go/throw.  And there’s no way Seppeltsfield 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny 1889 is a wine to down in one (which, I hasten to add was not the intention behind using a shot glass here).

This incredibly rare, unctuous, homeopathically concentrated fortified is a wine to savour so, for me, the sensual interaction which the stem and bowl of a wine glass facilitates is the bare minimum required here!  Which is not to say I didn’t enjoy this hallowed wine.  Far from it. But I think I’d have enjoyed this spice explosion and its unbelievably concentrated, yet still plump fruit even more in a wine glass.

My tasting note to follow in Decanter, for whom I’ll be reporting on Monday’s Wine Australia Langton’s Classification Masterclass and Tasting of rare and fine wines.  Meantime my notes on Seppeltsfield 100 Year Para Vintage Tawny 1911 and Seppeltsfield 100 Year Para Vintage Tawny 1910 will whet your appetite.  Salut!