Campbells Rutherglen Muscat 2012
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The Campbell family’s production of dessert and fortified wines dates back to the 1870’s. Direct descendants of gold mining pioneers, the fourth generation Campbell family owns and tends the vineyards at Rutherglen in Northeast Victoria. Brothers Malcolm and Colin Campbell have inherited the perfect tradition of making, blending and maturing these special styles. Since the first grapes were harvested at Rutherglen, wine experts from around the world have been consistently overwhelmed by the unique quality and richness of the area’s fortified wines. Today, the Rutherglen symbol on a bottle serves as a seal of authority that it is an authentic Rutherglen wine. Campbells winery is located in Rutherglen, a historical, picturesque town, approximately 93 miles northeast of Melbourne. The vineyard is blessed with a unique climate that is mellow and predictable, which offers plentiful sunshine. In winter and spring, soaking rains provide excellent moisture reserves. In summer months, Rutherglen experiences warm, sunny days and very cool clear nights. The extended, mild, dry fall allows the grapes to achieve slow, even ripening and abundant fruit flavors. Tokay is one of Rutherglen’s best-kept secrets—sweet, luscious, complex and elegant. Each vintage the grapes are left on the vines (20 to 25 years old) to ripen fully until raisined and laden with natural sugar. The resulting wine is blended with previous vintages using a modified Solera method to produce a consistent house style. The final blend contains portions of wine from some vintages more than 30 years old. The deep brilliant, burnished gold Tokay displays toffee, honey and tea leaf characters with mellowed oak on the finish. This unctuous dessert wine was developed by pioneer winemakers who discovered that Muscat produces a wonderful wine when exposed to Rutherglen’s long dry growing season. Each season the grapes are picked from vines (20 to 25 years old) after prolonged ripening to ensure maximum sugar levels and raisin character. The wine is then blended with previous vintages, some more than 30 years old, in the Soleras to maintain a consistent house style. The resulting bright amber Muscat displays intense, fresh raisin fruit flavors with a luscious, mouth-filling finish.
While Muscat comes in a wide range of styles from dry to sweet, still to sparkling and even fortified, it's safe to say it is always alluringly aromatic and delightful. The two most important versions are the noble, Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, making wines of considerable quality and Muscat of Alexandria, thought to be a progeny of the former. Somm Secret—Pliny the Elder wrote in the 13th century of a sweet, perfumed grape variety so attractive to bees that he referred to it as uva apiana, or “grape of the bees.” Most likely, he was describing Muscat.
Located in the warm and dry northeastern corner of the state of Victoria, bordering the southern side of the Murray River, the Rutherglen region bears a long history of fortified wine production.
Rutherglen's main variety, Muscat blanc à Petits Grains (also known as Brown Muscat or Muscat à Petit Grains Rouge for its often pink- or red-tinged berries) flourishes in the region’s deep, moisture retaining, alluvial, red loam soils. To make the distinguished and aptly named fortified, "Rutherglen," these Muscat grapes are harvested after left to semi-raisin on the vine. Fermentation only reaches a few degrees alcohol before the juice is fortified with grape spirit and aged in a barrel system resembling a cross between a Sherry solera and a Madeira estufagem. Rutherglen wines boast great concentration and fine aromas hinting at orange flowers and spice, and are capable of astounding quality.
The Rutherglen region grows second grape, called Muscadelle (confusingly unrelated Muscat), which also produces a quality fortified wine. Historically Australians called the grape “Tokay” and believed it to have Hungarian ancestry but when the French ampelographer, Paul Truel, identified it as Muscadelle in 1976, the name had to be changed. Today varietal wines made from Muscadelle can be called, “Topaque.”