Overgaauw Cape Vintage 1991

"Fortified wine" to the EU. Port to you and me.

We’ve decamped to Klein Optenhorst, the Wellington home of my parents-in-law, for Christmas. Dinner last night culminated in white chocolate and cranberry cookies paired with Overgaauw Cape Vintage 1991. I don’t expect to drink fortified wine in Wellington at the height of summer but the weather was unusually mild and so why not?

The Overgaauw was top stuff. Made from five Portuguese varieties and matured for two and a half years in 1300-litre oak casks, it showed aromas and flavours of red and black fruit, cinnamon and vanilla. Medium bodied and elegant, soft and mellow thanks to being 20 years on from vintage, it was very easy to drink even if we’re not exactly in the depths of winter. Score: 17/20.