Chambers Rosewood Vineyards - Muscadelle NV (375ml)

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Producer	Chambers Rosewood Vineyards
Country	Australia
Region	Victoria
Subregion	Rutherglen
Varietal	Muscadelle
Sku	109586
Size	375ml
ABV	18.00%

Lanterna

FOUNDED: 1858

OWNER: The Chambers Family

WINEMAKER: Stephen Chambers

CLIMATE: Highly continental - warm to hot days counterbalanced by cool nights

PROFILE: Since establishment in 1858 in Victoria’s famed Rutherglen region, winemaking duties at Chambers Rosewood have been handed down through six generations. Relinquished in 2001 by Bill Chambers, one of Australia's most respected wine personalities, the aging and blending practices that shape these inimitable fortified wines are now entrusted with son Stephen. Recognized the world over for their complexity, intensity and balance, Chambers’ Rare Muscats and Muscadelles are a national treasure; wines expertly blended from unctuous material that has matured quietly in the family cellars for more than ninety years.

VITICULTURE: The result of an extreme climate, a mysterious varietal heritage and century-old blending skills, these fortified wines are unique to the Rutherglen region of Australia. To the first pioneers arriving in the early 1800s it was apparent the region’s sweltering summer days counterbalanced by cold nights were ideal for viticulture. Situated on the flood plain of the Murray River, Australia’s largest river system, the area’s deep, alluvial soils also proved valuable for their nutrient content and moisture retention. The Chambers family made a fist of it in those early days, and today their original Muscat and Muscadelle vines thrive as they did a century ago on a single-wire trellising system supporting a sprawling canopy. This fruit ripens fully under the summer sun, then shrivels as the warm weather persists through fall. With the approach of harvest in late fall, the grapes attain the high sugar-levels necessary for the production of sweet, intensely flavored fortified wines.

WINEMAKING: For more than a century the Chambers family has harvested and partially fermented shriveled, high-sugar Muscat and Muscadelle grapes, before fortifying with neutral spirit and wood-aging in a semi-solera system. The real skill, however, lies in blending these components to achieve a consistent house style. Each year the winemaker draws from hundreds of parcels classified by vineyard, vintage and quality, aged from one to one hundred years. In addition, maintenance of the “old material” in the large, old oak barrels is essential to ensure succession, increased complexity and depth to the current releases. The wines that result are as awe-inspiring as the process that cast them: intensely flavored, explosively rich and sweet, yet wonderfully balanced and offering remarkable persistence.

HISTORY: For the past 40 years winemaking responsibility at Chambers has rested with Bill Chambers, Chairman of Judges at the Melbourne Wine Show since 1980 and one of Australia's most respected wine personalities. Bill has recently entrusted son, Stephen, with the care of the ‘old material’ – dark, unctuous fortified wine that has matured quietly in the Chambers’ family cellars for more than a century.

WINEMAKING: In the warm fall climate the grapes ripen and shrivel on the vines producing natural sugar levels in the range of 30-36 degrees Brix. The raisined grapes are then picked, crushed, and this intensely sweet grape juice is fortified with neutral grape spirit. A wood aging program then follows loosely resembling a solera system, lasting, in some cases, for over 100 years.

TASTING NOTES: Produced from the Muscadelle grape, and previously called Tokay, this blend is comprised of material aged between six and ten years old. Amber to old gold in color, it shows fresh honeycomb, orange peel and cold leaf-tea on the nose. The palate offers sweet toffee, citrus fruits and honey with a hint of spirit and aged oak spice on the back palate. Muscadelle carries itself with a feline grace as opposed to the powerhouse Muscat persona.

84 Points Wine Spectator
"Dried apricot, citrus peel and tobacco notes are plush and thick, with an earthy note and modest acidity. Drink now. 2,100 cases imported." — MW