Rutherglen Muscat Chambers NV

Description

The 6th generation of the Chambers family to make wine in the Rosewood winery, Stephen, took over the winemaking in 2001. This venerable winery, started in 1858 by William Chambers, is one of the most fabled in Rutherglen. This charming, northeastern Victorian town, the sort of place that time forgot, still speaks of the gold rush that led to the town's foundation, and the development of the wine industry, in the 1850s. Winemaking has been subtly changed in recent years in order to make fresher and drier style of wines.

Harvest of the grapes for this wine commences once the fruit reaches a ripeness of 16 baumé. At this stage the grapes will have some variation throughout the bunches, with some being plump, while others showing signs of grape shrivel. Once a parcel of grape is harvested, it is destemmed and the must placed into a closed stainless steel fermentation tank. Once fermentation has commenced and the sugar level has fallen to between 14 and 15 baumé the grapes are pressed with the fermenting juice and fortified with neutral grape wine spirit. The resultant wine is then settled in stainless steel tanks and then racked into old oak casks, which range in size between 220 to 5500 litres. The wines are kept as single vintage and vineyard parcels until blending.

'This works with any desserts that include caramel, dried fruit or witha variety of cheese. It has ripe fig, caramell, raisins and dried cherry, cherry compotte and hints of marzipan with a zestiness that reminds me of orange marmalde. Despite this being very sweet on the palate, it is well-balanced.' Anja Breit, Philglas & Swiggot