Jul 16, 2020 | Barossa Valley, Cellar Door, Fortified Wine, Home Barrel Advice, News and Views, Personalised Tastings, Taste Notes, Wines
Filling fortified wine straight from the barrel at Liebichwein, Barossa Valley
Fortified wines have a long history in the Barossa Valley which is one of the most historic wine producing regions in Australia. Here at Liebichwein we certainly have a soft spot for fortified styles and love the fact that so many customers have home barrels for that extra touch of luxury at home. We pride ourselves on our extensive range of bulk fortified wines suitable for drinking now or further ageing in your own barrel. There are very few Barossa Valley wineries that offer the range we do for fortified wine lovers to taste, buy or refill containers of fortified wines.
There are six fortified wine styles sold by the litre for customers to taste and choose from. Many fortified wine lovers return with their own container and we sell reusable plastic containers (2, 5, 10, 20 litre). The wine you choose will ultimately depend on your taste preference and whether it is used to season a new keg, as a base wine or for topping up a barrel.
Winemaking
Ron Liebich continually makes large batches of bulk blends to keep up with demand by masterfully blending fresher vintage fortified wines with old museum stocks stored in the depths of the barrel shed. All fortified wines are produced from estate grown grapes left to fully ripen naturally in the vineyard. Ron loves the flavours of different grapes growing on the Liebich property so he makes his blends using four different varieties to produce flavour profiles ranging from aromatic, floral and sweet to spicy and nutty. Grenache, Semillon, Muscat, and Red Frontignac are all perfectly suited to fortified wine styles.
Bulk Fortified Wines
- Ruby Grenache – youthful unwooded Tawny is a light fruity style that is recommended to freshen up old syrupy or over-oaked barrel blends. It’s also pretty tasty on its own, a bit like concentrated berry cordial for adults.
- Ron’s Blend – smooth youthful Tawny style 2-3 years old, ideal for topping up barrels or freshening over-oaked or excessively aged barrel ports.
- Barrel Blend – rich semi-aged tawny with a balance of fruit and hints of woody notes (2/3 Ron’s + 1/3 Ben’s Blend). Only available at cellar door.
- Ben’s Blend – mature style aged 5 years with woody notes and spiced dried fruit. Ideal for adding to a newly seasoned barrel or adding complexity to a youthful base blend where more developed characters are preferred.
- Semillon – luscious white fortified with raisin and toffee flavours. Light youthful style for drinking now or adding to a barrel blend for sweetness and depth.
- Muscat – luscious white fortified with floral and citrus flavours. Light youthful style for drinking now or adding to a barrel blend for sweetness and depth (Muscat Gordo grapes)
- Frontignac – luscious fruity wine with aromatic, tropical and musk flavours to add sweetness and depth to a barrel (Red Frontignac grapes).
We invite you to visit cellar door to taste these wines in addition to a wide range of premium bottled fortified wines ranging in age from one to thirty years old. You can sit down and enjoy a fortified tasting experience to compare flavours, impact of barrel ageing and even taste rare museum fortifieds straight from the barrel. These unctuous, syrupy wines are certainly memorable and a sweet treat indeed!
Mar 2, 2020 | Barossa Food Flavours, Fortified Wine, Recipes, Red Wine
Caramelised Onion, Fig, Rosemary and Wine Sauce
This quick and versatile sauce is more like a savoury compote. Excellent condiment for using figs, especially when you have had enough of sweet fig-based desserts. Serve as a sauce with roast lamb, baked fish, on pizza bases or like a relish. It’s just as good made with a full-bodied red wine or Port style wine.
Prep 10 mins Cook 25 mins
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
500g brown onions, sliced thinly
1 cup fresh figs or 1 cup dried figs
1/4 cup wine (Liebichwein red wine or Tawny Port)
1 cup stock (chicken or vegetable)
1 tbsp Liebichwein Muscat Vinegar (balsamic vinegar can be substituted)
1 tbsp chopped rosemary or thyme (fresh or dried)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Method
Prepare sliced onions and cut figs into quarters if using fresh figs.
Heat olive oil in large frying pan. Add onions and sprinkle some salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are golden, about 20 minutes.
Stir in figs, wine, stock, vinegar and herbs. Increase heat to high and simmer until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
Add salt and pepper taste.
Store in a sealed container in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. Alternatively, freeze in small portions until ready to use.
Enjoy!
Sep 30, 2018 | Barossa Valley, Competitions, Fortified Wine, Home Barrel Advice, News and Views, Personalised Tastings, Wines
Announcing the winners of the prestigious “Best Home Barrel Blend” for the 2018 competition. Judging took place in September with three expert judges deliberating samples of Tawny and white fortified wines sent in from our customer base.
Wines were very high standard with very little to pick on in terms of faults. All entries were worthy of medals. The winning wines showed complex flavours, great depth and balance. Entrants gained Ron?s specialist advice on how to improve their blend, which we believe is the most important outcome of this event.
Thanks to everyone who entered and helps support our business. We are only too happy to help you with our complete range of fortifieds to achieve the best results for your barrels.
Congratulations to all winners!
First Place: John Ridenour
Second Place: Martin Kennedy
Third Place: Filippo Pizzino
Ron Liebich’s winemaking comments:
Smaller barrels need to be “worked” to achieve best results. It is ok to have great rancio characters, the high ratio of wood in small barrels to wine means adding younger wine at times, preferably with minimum wood age (such as Ruby Fortified) as a portion of the addition. Youthful fortifieds are perfect for blending out excess wood tannin and maintaining fruit wood balance. The gold winners had the best balance of fruit and oak integration, indicating good management and? patience.
Sep 27, 2018 | Barossa Valley, Cellar Door, Competitions, Fortified Wine, News and Views, Red Wine, Reviews and Awards, Sparkling, Wines
We’re absolutely thrilled with results from the Barossa Wine Show 2018. Ron has outdone himself picking up a Trophy for Museum Fortified for the second year in a row. Rare Tawny was crowned Best Museum Red Fortified. Last year saw Rare Semillon get a similar honour in the Best Museum White Fortified Class.
All entries from around the Barossa region were such high calibre, we’re proud to be among the same company. Congratulations to all other medal and trophy winners.
Other Liebichwein medal winners:
- Rare Frontignac = SILVER (yet to be released)
- 2018 Vintage Fortified Petit Verdot (baby VP – yet to be released) = BRONZE
- Classic Muscat = BRONZE
- Lovely Sparkling Pinot Noir NV = BRONZE
Feb 18, 2016 | Barossa Valley, Cellar Door, Fortified Wine, Home Barrel Advice, Personalised Tastings
Your personal blend of fortified can be a luxurious addition to any home. With a little time and attention, you can meld your special ingredients into a complex mixture that you can sip with satisfaction.
This article follows on from Barrel Care Part 1: How to Start a Fortified Keg and answers common questions we get asked about how to maintain a quality fortified blend throughout the barrel’s life.
What do I fill my barrel with?
Wines that mature in wooden barrels experience what is known as “oxidative” aging. They tend to lose colour quite quickly. They also lose volume to evaporation (commonly called the angel’s share), leaving behind a wine that is slightly more viscous. The base wine you choose will depend on your taste preference. Fortified wines made from different grape varieties produce different flavour profiles ranging from aromatic, floral and sweet to spicy and nutty.
There are three types of fortified available that suit barrel ageing; ruby, tawny, and white styles and they all have unique features, colours and flavours.
Ruby
Ruby is brightly coloured red, light brown or purple and is a youthful style, ideal for freshening up over-oaked or excessively aged barrel wine. It can be a recent vintage or a blend of 2-3 vintages. Different grape varieties will yield different flavour profiles.
Grenache – red berry fruits, sweet spice, confection
Mataro (Mouvedre) – blackcurrant, perfumed, aniseed
Tawny
Made from red grapes and aged in wooden barrels to give gradual exposure to air and evaporation. Wood exposure imparts mellow golden-brown colours, raisin and “nutty” flavours. Liebichwein offer two popular tawny blends ready to enjoy now or further age in your own barrel. Tawny’s can be blended with other vintages and are ready to drink immediately and remain stable after opening.
Ron’s Blend – average 3 years old, youthful & smooth
Ben’s Blend – more wood age up to 5 years, rich & ripe
White Port
Tawny-style but made from white grapes offer a softer and sweeter finish. This is the wine style that got Ron hooked on fortified winemaking in the 60’s!
Muscat – orange, musk, floral
Frontignac – tropical, musk, honey
Semillon – dates, toffee, nutty, honey
Where do I buy bulk fortified for my keg?
Liebichwein of course! We have built up a strong reputation for selling bulk fortifieds over the last 20 years. Ron is a master fortified blender which is a dying art in the wine trade. We grows grapes especially for fortified production so we let them ripen slowly and make sure they are the last ones picked during vintage when the Baume has reached at least 15?Baume. A hot Aussie summer really suits fortified winemaking. Each year we make a fresh vintage of different varieties which are eventually blended with small amounts of our old family stocks dating far back into the 1920’s.
Youthful Tawny made from Grenache is the base for Ruby (little or no oak), Ron’s and Ben’s blend. We also stock Muscat, Frontignac and Semillon as individual varietal wines. We find that an approximate age of 3-5 years makes a suitable starter for a home barrel.
We sell all bulk fortifieds in inert plastic containers in sizes 2L, 5L, 10L and 20L. They cost a few extra dollars and are reusable and recyclable. Customers are welcome to bring their own cleaned containers into cellar door. In the early days of selling in bulk we would get requests to fill all kinds of containers and drink bottles!
Can I keep fortified in plastic containers?
Once you have filled or topped up your keg and you still have left over, there is no drama in leaving the excess in the plastic container until you need it. As the wines are already fortified and semi-oxidised they do not pick up any taints or off-flavours. Just store the container out of direct sunlight and below 30?C.
How do I maintain my barrel?
Remember from Part 1 that wine develops more rapidly in smaller barrels so the first fill should be for a short time (1-4 weeks). Keep in mind that the oak source also has an effect on flavour and will be a lot stronger in a new barrel. You can taste test your personal blend weekly at first, making adjustments to the addition to help achieve desired result. If you notice strong oaky flavours, you can bottle off half of the keg and top it up with young wine (unoaked or lightly oaked is preferable as the barrel does the work). Experimenting with different batches and refilling at different times allows you to blend wine to your liking.
KEY TIPS
- Keep your barrel topped up when 1/3 full
- Be patient – it may take a couple of months before the desired taste is achieved
What about adding a mix of wines or spirits?
Our personal view is never to mix fortified and spirit such as cognac or brandy in a barrel. A good base fortified already contain spirit, either brandy or neutral grape spirit and anything stronger than these is very difficult to blend out if you change your mind.We believe that the only things to add, if you wish to blend and tinker, are oak and age. Complexity is added by ageing slowly in oak and adding old and fresh wine.
How much aged wine can be added?
Adding quality aged fortified is a practice that we highly recommend, but the question of how much and when depends greatly on what your blend is like and the barrel type. It’s
not wise to go overboard with aged material, particularly when the barrel port is young (i.e. the initial fill of the barrel). Before adding anything at all, play with blending small amounts in your bar/shed/kitchen (20-30mL in 9L is usually plenty). As the barrel port gets
a few years on it, it can then take a greater amount of aged material.
To help give a new keg a dramatic head start on the road to complexity, Liebichwein is able to offer small quantities of very old blending stock. We call them ?rancio? premium aged fortifieds and we bottle them off in 100mL wax-sealed bottles in four different varieties; Muscat, Frontignac, Semillon and Tawny (Grenache). It’s difficult to control the urge to drink such aged and complex wines, but you will be rewarded by throwing it into your personal blend.
Have more questions? Ron is happy to offer advice. Please contact us for a qualified assessment of your personal blend.
