Forrest Wines

But they did not let it go to waste.

Instead, they took that oxidized wine and distilled it into brandy, which was great because at the time, brandy was important because fortified wine, which they called port, sherry, muscat, tokai, was very popular overseas.

Fortified wine was what people sought from Australia in Europe, and especially in the UK.

They did have some still wines, but by 1929, 25% of Australia's total wine production was from Barossa, and a good deal of that was fortified wine.

And part of the reason why dry wine was not gonna work, well, first of all, you had the transport issue.

By the time it got to England, it was already spoiled.

Uh, the fourth level is diploma, which is a 18 month to two, three year program, depending on how you do it.

Six units that covers wine production, wine business, wines of the world, sparkling wine, fortified wine, and a research paper.

And, um, we both...

You are officially WSET diploma at the time of recording.

So yeah, it's about 600 pages for the D3 for Wines of the World.

Yes.

And then, uh, Fortified Wine is great because it's like 88 pages.

Sorry.

And I think the other great thing, and Jen Pfeiffer is a wonderful example of this, is that there are such nuances of the Australian wine industry in terms of regionality or style.

And no one knows Australian Fortified better than Jen Pfeiffer and the Pfeiffer family and other people in Rutherglen.

And it's wonderful to be able to go to shows.

And actually then listen to Jen talk about house styles and listen to her talk about the type of spirit that they use and how they actually make these wines and that wine tastes like that because they're using that type of spirit and everything like that.

Roger, I'm in beer, but also a cocktail enthusiast.

And a fortified wine enthusiast.

Indeed.

Yeah.

And I like all alcoholic things.

And speaking of

fortified wine, except myself.

Pickled.

Over the last couple of episodes, we've looked at how still wine is made, and then how some still wine becomes sparkling wine.

Today, we're completing the trilogy with fortified wine.

A pale bone dry Fino or a rich sweet vintage port may taste completely different, but they share one defining step.

Someone adds spirits?

And that is fortification.

And when it's done, it changes everything.

Fortified wine is one of those topics that is sort of neglected by most people.

It's sort of niche.