TN: 1912 Seppelt 100 Year Old Para Liqueur Vintage Tawny

  • 1912 Seppelt 100 Year Old Para Liqueur Vintage Tawny - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley (10/29/2012)
    Pours out dark and sticky looking like 40W70 sump oil with its dark colour and green hues. The nose is super complex with notes of coffee, chocolate, teak, Christmas cake spice and salted caramel. It is so thick and sticky that it almost glues ones lips together. There’s an explosion of sweet and savoury in the mouth and it is powerful with a bitter chocolate finish and incredible intensity and length of flavour.

Posted from CellarTracker

Had a bottle a few years ago (a different vintage though) and the motor oil comparison is pretty right.

Still, they are amazingly complex and layered, with the longest possible finish imaginable.

To think that you can buy a 100year old wine on official release every year is pretty amazing…

Thanks for the note! The 1880 and 1905 are among the best wines I’ve ever had (the 1906 disappointing though). Have a part share in a bottle of 1888 and 1908 that I’m looking forward to drinking.

I would kill to try this just once in my lifetime.

Amazing wines. Thanks for the note, Jeremy. Don’t see it on these shares very often.

Here’s my note from tasting the 1899 a few years ago:

1899 Seppelt “Para” Port
I actually went over to the Peninsula specifically to try this wine. Figured I would never own a bottle at the price of $600, but was willing to pay $40 to taste it. When I walked in, I was told that no one knew what it was supposed to taste like, and they weren’t sure it was a good bottle, so they were comping the pour. Fine with me! As it was poured into the glass, all I could think of was used motor oil. Motor oil that needed changing about 20,000 miles ago. The color was dark brown, and so viscous it just sheeted the glass a light brown as it slowly settle down the sides after swirling. You could smell it from 3 feet away. At first, a not very pleasant, almost rancid smell, but as it aired in the glass over the course of an hour it cleaned up nicely. I still can’t describe the aroma, but rancio comes closest. In the mouth it is the essence of everything; walnut/hazelnut, dates, black fig, toffee, coffee, mollasses. There is sweetness, but what must have at one time been sugars have seemingly turned into this melange of dark/fruity/nutty flavors, flavors that cling to and coat your mouth for a long time after the wine is gone. In many ways it is like a Pedro Ximenez sherry. A very interesting tasting experience. Not a wine I would consider collecting, as the experience was not earth-shattering, but impressive nevertheless. 98/100, a couple points thrown in for the thrill of tasting a 100+ year-old wine.

I’ve been lucky enough to taste both the 1910 and 1911 vintage of this wine. Never before have I tried a wine of such intensity and length. As much as I hate when critics describe a wine with “a finish that goes on for 60+ seconds”, tasting this allows for a rare exception to my rule.

Very nice and familiar TN, Alan