Rutherglen Liquor Muscats

Eric Ifune · Post by **Eric Ifune** » Sat Apr 21, 2018 9:42 am

Setubal, in my experience, has the finest wood aged fortified muscats. I've heard, however, that the Rutherglen area of Australia also makes some mighty fine ones. I've had a few which I thought were excellent and am hoping to learn more.
Anyone have any thoughts? How about visiting the area?
Thanks in advance.

dave berg · Post by **dave berg** » Tue May 15, 2018 10:24 am

I agree--Seppelt, Buller's, and Yalumba have never been a disappointment. Never seen the area you mention, so I'll have to watch for it. Years ago I had a Lustau Emilon(sp?) Moscatel that was just superb--and I've never seen it again. I did find Lustau Emilon Moscatel in Portland a few weeks ago--I still like it a lot, but wouldn't say it's superb anymore--either the wine has changed, or I have. (7-2019)

John Trombley · Post by **John Trombley** » Mon May 21, 2018 3:41 pm

Another sherry muscat is the Valdespino 'Toneles' vineyard, that I've greatly enjoyed, and have been sipping from a recorked bottle for months (sadly, only had a t-cork, not a standard cork or a screwcap, so my Coravin is useless. Haven't tasted many Rutherford sweeties; however, I hear the Calliope is great and not that expensive for what it is.

Paul Fountain · Post by **Paul Fountain** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 6:57 am

Somebody should have given me a prod to answer this one

I hadn't checked in to this section for a while and I have answered Eric's question about visiting elsewhere. If anybody else needs any info about visiting or has any specific questions, hit me up and I'll tell you what I know.

dave berg wrote:I agree--Seppelt, Buller's, and Yalumba have never been a disappointment. Never seen the area you mention, so I'll have to watch for it. Years ago I had a Lustau Emilon(sp?) Moscatel that was just superb--and I've never seen it again.

Of the 3 that Dave have listed here only Buller is actually a Rutherglen based Winery. They have also been through some tough times, going into receivership, and emerging with new ownership and a much smaller portflio of wines. I'm not totally sure what we will see from them.

It isn't Seppelt any more, but rather Seppeltsfield. Seppelt is owned by Treasury and some time ago (about 10 years I am guessing) they sold off the Fortified arm of Seppelt and it was renamed Seppeltsfield (which is a town in the Barossa Valley). They don't have a presence in Rutherglen but they do use Rutherglen grapes for their muscat. Seppeltsfield also have some fairly extraordinary tawnies. In their storage caves they have an unbroken run of tawny stocks that date back to the 1870s I think. That's all in the Barossa.

Yalumba are similar, in that they are based in the Barossa Valley. They are a large family owned company and they have a few other brands under their portfolio, like RIngbolt from Western Australia and Pewsey Vale, known for their Rieslings from the Eden Valley in South Australia. I'm not sure where the Yalumba Fruit comes from, but again they have no real association with Rutherglen.

THe Rutherglen producers have a sort of a 4 step classification for their Muscat - Rutherglen, Classic, Grand and Rare. The average ages are pretty loose but I often buy 12 year old which fits into classic.

Rutherglen isn't a huge wine region and there aren't that many producers. Some of the newer ones either aren't interested in fortifieds or don't yet have the stock to make decent muscat yet. There are quite a few that have a lot of history though dating back to the mid to late 1800s.

Here are my go to Muscats....
Stanton and Killeen - Both their Classic Muscat and Topaque (aka Tokay) are great for the price. The rare muscats are great too.
Campbells - I often prefer the Topaque at the classic level. Their top Topaque (Isabella) and Muscat(Merchant Prince) are legendary
Morris- Great and usually well priced accross the range.
Pfieffer - Also great across the range. A couple of nice Sherry styles too.

I've never been that impressed with Chambers Rosewood but I've never had their Rare Muscat and Topaque either. Reputation wise that sits along with the top Campbells wines as the best of the style.

There are others, like All Saints/St Leonards, Anderson, Jones. Cofield. All are worthwhile too.

In a separate region called Glenrowan, that is maybe half an hour away from Rutherglen, there is Baileys. They have some fantastic Muscat as well with some older stocks. There are a few others that are scattered around the General area either in Glenrowan, the King Valley or Beechworth that will have a Muscat as part of their range but most are going to be not quite at that classic level in terms of quality although still tasty.

Eric Ifune · Post by **Eric Ifune** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 3:27 pm

Thanks Paul.
I'm still working on visiting. Maybe in August. I'll let you know!
Eric

Paul Fountain · Post by **Paul Fountain** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:04 am

Eric Ifune wrote:Thanks Paul.
I'm still working on visiting. Maybe in August. I'll let you know!
Eric

The Australian Dollar is dropping at the moment so that might work on your favour!

Having said that, they tax alcohol pretty heavily here so anything you know you can buy in the US probably should be bought there.
There is a GIn distillery in the Yarra Valley just outside of Melbourne that has gin my friend in New York can buy for significantly cheaper than what we pay for it here!

Mike K. · Post by **Mike K.** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:52 am

Paul - Thank you for your great write up above, I'm hoping to try some of them!

Does anyone know if any of the higher quality muscat's or tawny's are available in the US?

Mike K. · Post by **Mike K.** » Thu Aug 02, 2018 2:46 pm

I found a lower-end bottle of Chambers Rosewood last month while in up-state NY. Not overly complex but still enjoyable.

Today I picked up a Cambell's Merchant Prince at a local shop here in MA. First pour is quite dark, thick, rich. Wow.
I'm going to let it open up a little before having more. Plus it's a 375ml so I need to go easy on it!

Eric Ifune · Post by **Eric Ifune** » Thu Aug 02, 2018 4:20 pm

I'll be visiting in about three weeks. I'll report afterwards!

Paul Fountain · Post by **Paul Fountain** » Fri Aug 03, 2018 1:33 am

Mike K. wrote:I found a lower-end bottle of Chambers Rosewood last month while in up-state NY. Not overly complex but still enjoyable.

Today I picked up a Cambell's Merchant Prince at a local shop here in MA. First pour is quite dark, thick, rich. Wow.
I'm going to let it open up a little before having more. Plus it's a 375ml so I need to go easy on it!

I'm glad you managed to find a Merchant Prince Mike.

I reckon you'd be a chance to find some Morris or Bailey's around too. Bailey's was owned by Treasury, but has changed hands to Casella who also have owned Morris for a few years. They are the people who make Yellowtail and at first glance that might be alarming but they have bought a few older historic brands and seem intent on not screwing them up. Anyway we know they send a lot of stuff to the US so you'd think that would make it easier for the Morris and Bailey's to get out your way

Mike K. · Post by **Mike K.** » Sat Nov 10, 2018 2:32 pm

Picked up a Buller Calliope Rutherglen Rare Tokay today. Cork completely disintegrated but otherwise I am enjoying it. Extremely dark, thick and gooey, rich fig and raisin flavors. Wonderful stuff. Will need to burn my palate clean with some Thai food before moving on to Port.

For The Love Of Port