Matching Food and Fortified Wine

fortified wine dessert platter

Ideas for serving Liebich fortified wines with food:

Bulk Ruby Grenache– Savoury ideas include glazing for caramelised onions, sauce for red game meats. For a cocktail, pour over crushed ice and top up with tonic water for a refreshing balance of sweet and bitterness from the tonic

Bulk Semillon / Muscat – Add a dash to custard, dilute 50% with water and add to stewed fruit, 50% diluted with water, ideal marinade for dried fruits used in Christmas cakes and desserts

Classic Muscat – Serve with fruit mince pies or desserts that feature citrus or stone fruits

Classic Frontignac – Serve with ripe berries or tropical desserts, fruity cheesecakes or pavlovas

Classic Semillon – Perfect match with sticky date pudding, traditional Christmas pudding and toffee desserts such as creme brulee

Grand Tawny – Perfect with traditional Christmas pudding, chocolate truffles and desserts that feature any type of chocolate or roasted nuts

Recipe Ideas with Muscat Barrel-Aged Wine Vinegar

Fortified wine Muscat barrel aged vinegar Barossa

Liebich Barrel-Aged Muscat Vinegar

Delicious sweet and sour Muscat vinegar made from Barossa Muscat fortified wine aged in oak barrels. This vinegar is obtained naturally as wine ages in barrels by “acetobacter”, which transforms the wine alcohol into acetic acid.

Use this vinegar to enhance food flavours. Use in place of red wine and balsamic vinegar to add lovely fruit flavours without adding darker colour to food and dressings. Perfect for a salad, glaze or drizzle over fruit.

Vinegar bottles are in limited stock, and only available at Liebichwein Cellar Door.

Make a Glaze

A sweet sherry style glaze is perfect to accentuate chicken or salmon flavours or use as a sweet dessert glaze on berries or ice cream.

  • ½ cup light brown sugar
  • ½ cup Muscat wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp water

Mix sugar and vinegar in a small saucepan. Simmer to form a thick syrup and remove from heat. Add one teaspoon of water to thin the syrup slightly.

Rosemary Marinade for Meat

  • 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • 2 tsp dried rosemary
  • 1 tbsp good quality mustard
  • 1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Tangy Fruit Salsa

Finely chop:

  • ½ cup fruit (mango, peach, pineapple)
  • 1 spring onion or ½ red onion
  • 3 tbsp fresh herbs (parsley, coriander, chives)
  • 1 tsp Muscat wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp lime juice
  • Fresh chiles to taste
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all together and serve with wraps and tacos.

Best Fortified Wine in Barossa Valley

Liebich Barossa Rare Fortified Wine Bottles Heart small

Extremely proud to win Best Fortified in Show at the Barossa Wine Show 2022! Ron has outdone himself picking up a Trophy for Museum Fortified for the third time. Rare Muscat was crowned Best Fortified in Show after patiently sitting for 25 years developing richness and depth of flavour. The ultra-ripe grapes hang on until late in vintage when the berries shrivel and we get the best flavours and natural sweetness.​​​​​​​​

We really appreciate this win and thank the whole show team, Barossa Wine and trophy sponsor Tarac Technologies. We love the feedback from the judging panel ‘Integrated sweetness, lovely luscious flow set the gold apart’.

Previous years have seen Rare Semillon and Rare Tawny get similar honours in the Best Museum Fortified Classes. These are special limited releases that have taken decades to develop richness, complexity and depth of flavour. We think of them as “liquid gold”. Every time we take a sip, we think of the “angels share”, the wine that evaporates to the heavens during the ageing process.​​​​​​​​

All entries from around the Barossa region were of such high calibre, we’re proud to be among the same company. Congratulations to all other medal and trophy winners.

Liebichwein results:

Rare 25 Year Old Muscat won Best Fortified in Show 🏆🥇
Rare 25 Year Old Fronti won SILVER 🥈
Rare 30 Year Old Tawny Grenache won SILVER 🥈
To see all other 2022 Barossa Wine Show results click here.

Fortified Wine – Rare Releases

Barossa Fortified Wine Rare Bottles Trio Liebichwein

Fortified wines have a long history in the Liebich family. We are proud to continue the tradition of carefully ageing different varieties grown on our property. We grow Grenache, Semillon, Muscat, and Red Frontignac grapes especially to produce these styles.

Ron has been patiently curating family museum stocks, which have been maturing in barrel over many decades. There are barrels of all shapes and sizes that evolve and develop over time to reflect the glories of yesteryear. Ron was fortunate to have enough wine from three different varieties to qualify for being called “Rare” meaning an average blend age of 20 years or more. We are aligning our wine names with the fortified classification system as developed by Winemakers of Rutherglen. Australia has a long history of fortified winemaking. Learn more about it in this Wine Australia Fortified Wines

We’re thrilled to share these rare wines with you that have sat patiently for over 25 years. Every time you take a sip, think of the “angels share”, the wine that evaporates to the heavens during the ageing process⁠. These are sensational sipping for a special occasion.

They are available from Liebichwein cellar door and online. All bottles are filled into 200ml bottles that are specially printed with gold ink. They are labelled and sealed with a wax stamp by hand at the winery.  These rare indulgent wines are highly limited stocks.

Rare Muscat aged 25 years

Burnt toffee explodes on the syrupy palate and lingers long.

Rare Frontignac aged 25 years – Gold at Barossa Wine Show 2021

Honey and raisins explode on the syrupy palate and lingers long.

Rare Tawny aged 30 years

An exquisite aged Tawny style port capturing the essence of raisins and spices in a syrupy mouthful.

Purchase wines from the Liebich Wine Shop.

 

Bulk Fortified Wines for Barrel Ageing

Blog post refill fortified wine bulk

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!