Vintage
NV
ABV
17.5%
Wine Type
Red
Wine Style
Fortified
Wine Description
Entry level to our Muscat Range. The wine is youthful and expressive of the primary characters of the variety. We first conduct a series of bench trials utilising the single vintage wines before settling on a final blend. The wine is blended, filtered, and placed back into cask until required for bottling and sale.
The wine is bottled on demand to ensure the best product possible.
Tawny in colour with aromatics of rose petals, dried apricots and raisons, these characters are evident on the palate resulting in a youthful and vibrant wine showing freshness of fruit and lusciousness.
Accolades
James Suckling2023 Rating: 93
Halliday Wine Companion2022 Rating: 92 2021 Rating: 92
Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Wines2021 #8 out of 100 Rating: 93
Texsom International Wine Awards (US) 2022 Platinum 2021 Platinum
Decanter World Wine Awards (UK) 2021 Rating: 93
Winemaker
Muscat is made from the variety muscat à petits grains, which can range in colour from a green (white) grape through to black. The colour favoured for muscat production in Rutherglen is reddish-brown and is often referred to as muscat à petits grains rouge. Prior to 2015 the fruit was hand harvested now it is machine harvested. Fruit is harvested at higher baumés (16º Bé plus preferred). The grapes are then de-stemmed with the resultant must and recovered raisons are placed into tank. Depending upon the disease status the must is either inoculated with yeast or a wild ferment allowed. Only a partial fermentation of the juice is undertaken (usually 2º to 3º Bé depending upon initial fruit ripeness). The fermentation will add colour and complexity to the wine. We tend to find that there is an increase in baumé in the initial 24 to 72 hours due liberation of sugar from raison rehydration, thus enabling a longer fermentation. Once desired amount of sugar has been fermented, the must is placed into the press for juice extraction. The fermenting juice obtained is fortified with neutral grape spirit referred to as SVR (~ 96% alcohol; ) to 16% alcohol to arrest the fermentation. The neutral spirit is chosen to enable the fruit expression of the variety. The resultant wine is then placed into stainless steel tank for settling, then racked prior to cross flow filtration. The filtered wine is then adjusted to 18% alcohol before transfer to old, large casks for aging. Cask volume varies from 900 to 5000 litres. Individual vintages and vineyards are kept as separate wines until blending. The Rutherglen Muscat is the entry level to our Muscat Range. The wine is youthful and expressive of the primary characters of the variety. To produce the Rutherglen Muscat, we first conduct a series of bench trials utilising the single vintage wines before settling on a final blend. The selected wines are then blended, filtered then placed back into cask until required for bottling and sale. The wine is bottled on demand to ensure the best product possible.
Winemaker's Bio
Stephen Chambers - 6th Generation Chambers Winemaker
As part of a six generational wine business, Stephen started to help his father, Bill Chambers, from an early age and throughout his schooling, whether it was in the cellar door, winery, vineyard or the farm.
After studying Oenology at Adelaide University, he spent some time in the Barossa Valley, Bordeaux and
Great Southern WA, gaining experience.
Returning to Rutherglen in 2000, Stephen set about to
maintain the high quality fortified wines being produced, as well as improving the consistency of the table wine offerings.
Stephen has created great rapport with International and National trade and has kept the traditional winemaking processes alive.
