In 1926, Queen Elizabeth II, Marilyn Monroe and Fidel Castro were born, John Logie Baird demonstrated television for the first time, Francisco Franco was promoted to Brigadier General in the Spanish Army, Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket, Rudolph Valentino died, Buster Keaton's 'The General' was the top film, Jelly Roll Morton released 'Black Bottom Stomp' and this was tucked away into barrel. Monumental, otherworldly and unique; the wine is a national treasure. A tawny of incredible depth and stature, a singularity of intense flavour. Liquid dried fruits, candied nuts, mahogany, fruitcake with a thick slather of marzipan, cigar humidor, dark caramel, espresso concentrate, candied figs, wood spice and citrus rind. There's an incredible unctuous texture. Upon its surface the light shifts. It's chiaroscuro in an aqueous form; things flit in and out of view. You get lost in it. It's just epic.

By comparison with the previous couple of releases, this 1926 is an open book, albeit one you would need help carrying, let alone opening while wearing your finest museum archivist gloves. The flavours are celebrated, paraded, at full volume, without any shyness or reticence. This is the most expressive and demonstrative 100-year-old wine I have ever tasted, and it would impress amateurs and professionals alike because it is patently clear how majestic this wine is on the very first sip! Over the traditional core of burnt caramel, ristretto, Grenoble walnuts and Black Madeira figs, there is a veritable cornucopia of exotic stone fruit, jungle flora, and salt flakes. The woodsmoke and sweet roasted woodcock notes are balanced by wildly intense slivovitz-like damson plums and absurd, borderline illegal Sichuan pepper tones which blanket the palate and then, in an instant, dissolve into your taste buds like miniature spicy puddles. The whole experience is mind-expanding, and it is incomprehensible that a drink can make every one of your senses fire up in concert like never before. Chapeau Seppeltsfield, you have done it again, but in 1926, you made a wine that appeals not only to dyed-in-the-wool wine nerds but to all hedonist taste seekers on Earth. 20+++/20

Deep mahogany gold. Concentrated and intense espresso, panforte, dark chocolate, apricot, dried fig, spice aromas with liquorice notes. Richly concentrated and luscious with superb exaggerated dark treacle, panforte, dried stonefruit, liquorice flavours, bittersweet textures and wonderful pure linear acidity. All liquorice and aniseed at the finish with a very long bittersweet/ chinotto aftertaste. Beautifully balanced with remarkable richness, layered complexity and freshness. A classic year. Matured in barrel for ‘100 summers and 100 winters’. Drink now – Keep. 23.6% alc 100 points

It opens with a pure, sweet perfume that features striking high notes – vincotto, hoisin with fig pudding, rich mocha and molasses. The same tones stretch out in long, elastic flavour strands, emphasised by a cohesive smoothness, showing no spikes through the palate line. Within this harmony, there is also great depth, with an impossibly deep baritone at its foundation, held intact by a firm tannin structure to ensure cohesiveness through the wine’s extraordinary length. It has a shocking intensity for such a mature wine, due to its persistent acid line.

Vinified in 1926 and only taken out of barrel this year, this wine pours almost like motor oil, with extraordinary depth and concentration. Aromas of rum, bitter chocolate, salted caramel, nuts, burnt oranges, sweet spices, mahogany, dates, cloves, cardamom, leather and varnish lead to an intensely viscous palate with focused acidity that’s remarkably persistent. Truly one of the world’s rarest fortified wines. Excellent. Drink or hold.