From Australia. A deep mahogany colour. Thick, full tears when swirled. A nose of raisins, figs and more raisins. Some candied orange or candied grapefruit present as well. A touch of butterscotch at first, but it pales in comparison to the raisins/figs, which dominate the palate and nose.
Thick, viscous. It is just like some of the Aussie 'ports', in fact, I would bet my life (and crappy palate) on the fact that I detect some of the same grapes used in the Aussie port knock-offs in this wine. The 18% alcohol kick is hardly noticeable, unless you are looking for it. Same goes for the acidity, which does show up in the mid-palate, but is drown out by the excessive sweetness of this.
While somebody (Wine Spectator, maybe Wine Advocate perhaps... I will check) rated this a 96 point wine (hence the reason for me checking it out... just to see if that is, as I suspected, a pure crock) - I would not rate this highly at all. To the point of almost being sickly-sweet...
I would not recommend this, nor purchase it again. But it was $35C spent on an interesting learning experience.
Todd