Old Vine Muscadelle 375ml
375mL. Rutherglen CLASSIC Classification. Top Gold Award & Trophy. Mocha and coffee bean aromas with toffee and malt with just a hint of cold tea. Palate of malt, salted caramel with mocha and cold tea notes, good length of flavour with persistence. A luscious wine with age characters evident. Solera bases from the early 1990’s. Deep tawny/black coffee colour with a hint of olive at the edge.
James Suckling - 2023 Rating: 97
Halliday Wine Companion - 2024 Rating: 95 - 2022 Rating: 95 - 2021 Rating 95 - 2020 Rating: 97 - 2019 Rating: 97
Alcohol: 17.5%
Standard Drinks: 5.2 per 375ml
“Riveting aromas of Earl Grey tea, spiced date, mocha and cardamon pod, with subtle lilt of rancio. To speak in greater depth would take me well beyond this space. Put it this way, this is among the worlds very greatest fortified expressions. Nary a degree of excessive sweetness, clad to gently unctuous, mid weighted bones. The finish, palpably dry, such is the presence and savoury aura. These wines don’t die. I almost prefer this to the Grand muscadelle, despite the younger wines involved. Drink or hold….forever. Screw Cap.” James Suckling - Ned Goodwin MW
“Equivalent to the Classic Rutherglen Muscat classification, this amber beauty retains the essence of Muscadelle flavour, roasted nuts, tea leaves, malt and toffee - within a smoothly honed, deep, sweet palate of some obvious complexity. The blender’s art is right here on display to be celebrated” Halliday Wine Companion 2022 JP
'A wine that Stephen Chambers has placed outside the normal Rutherglen classification system, 'old vine' rather than 'old wine'. Yet this is clearly much older than the entry point wine, now with edges of brown, the flavours distinctly more complex, with a burnt spice savoury edge to the toffee, cold tea and Christmas cake flavours. Exceptional value." James Halliday
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Alcohol: 17.9%
Glucose & Fructose: 305.1g/L
pH: 3.53
Titratable Acidity: 5.4 g/L
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Produced from a minor white Bordeaux variety of the same name, these grapes are harvested late in the season to achieve maximum ripeness. Any sugar levels in excess of 16 baumé is desired. Typically harvest occurs mid-April to early May.
Once the fruit is crushed and de-stemmed the ‘must’ is placed directly into the press. Any fermentation occurs on the juice at this stage. After a minimal fermentation (sometimes less than 1 baumé) the juice is fortified with neutral grape spirit to between 16% alcohol. The neutral spirit is used to maximise the primary fruit characters of the variety. The wine is settled in stainless steel tank prior to cross flow filtration; after which the alcohol adjusted to between 18 and 19% prior to transfer to cask for maturation. The individual vineyards and vintages are left in cask until blending. Cask volumes vary from 900 litres up to 5000 litres.
In order for an individual wine to be considered for the Old Vine its quality must be good to very good. Age alone is not a determinant of quality.
The Old Vine Muscadelle is produced using a modified solero, which has been in operation since the late 20th Century and was established by WB Chambers (5th Generation) utilising a 1986 vintage Muscadelle as the base. It is possible that a very small amount of the original wine maybe still in the solero.
The solera consists of 3 levels. The first is a series of small barrels (hogsheads and puncheons) with levels 2 and 3 being 2300 litre casks. It is from level 3 that the bottles are drawn. When moving the wine through the solera assessment of each barrel is undertaken to ensure absence of faults and optimum maturity. Any movement into and within the solera is dependent of having suitable young material to enter.
The wine is bottled on demand.
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James Suckling
2023 Rating: 97Riveting aromas of cold Early Grey tea, spiced date, mocha and cardamon pod, with a subtle lilt of rancio. To speak in greater depth would take me well beyond this space. Put it this way, this is among the world's very greatest fortified expressions. Nary a degree of excessive sweetness, clad to gently unctuous, mid-weighted bones. The finish, palpably dry, such is the presence and savory aura. These wines don't die. I almost prefer this to the Grand Muscadelle, despite the younger wines involved. Drink or hold.... forever. Screw cap. Ned Goodwin
Halliday Wine Companion
95 Points Halliday Rating 2022
95 Points Halliday Rating 2021
97 Points Halliday Rating 2020
97 Points Halliday Rating 2019Equivalent to the Classic Rutherglen Muscat classification, this amber beauty retains the essence of muscadelle flavour – roasted nuts, tea leaves, malt and toffee – within a smoothly honed, deep, sweet palate of some obvious complexity. The blender's art is right here on display to be celebrated. 375ml.
Jeni Port - Published 13 August 2021
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2023 James Suckling
Rating: 97Halliday Wine Companion
2022 Rating: 95
2021 Rating: 95
2020 Rating: 97
2019 Rating: 97Australian Fortified Wine Show
2019 ‘Best Commercial Topaque’
2022 ‘Best Commercial Topaque’
