Rutherglen, Australia

Our trip through Rutherglen began with and consisted primarily of our visit to Chambers Rosewood winery. The fortified dessert wine producers put together an amazing tasting of their stickies for us. Prepared at each seat was a flight of 27 dessert wines. This was a very challenging, but very rewarding tasting. The wines were ordered by style from left to right, and by producer from top to bottom. This offered an opportunity to experience the style of the wine, or alternately, the house style.

Sitting down to a large flight of dessert wines can be very daunting. Higher alcohol levels and incredible amounts of residual sugar can fatigue the palate pretty quickly. But these wines Australian fortifieds are as complex as any wines in the world. Before this trip, if you'd asked me what the best thing coming out of Australia was, I'd have been inclined to answer "dessert wines". For me, this was one of the best tastings of the trip.



I took my most dilligent notes on these wines, which would be fairly boring to read, so here are the highlights:

As a house, overall, I found a new love for Campbell's. In comparison to most of the other producers, their style remained drier and more savory. Still sweet on attack, the wines consistently found balance on the finish. Their Grand Muscat was stellar, offering freshness on entry with tangerine and cherry flavors. However, the thrill is on the finish where all of the "goodies" show: nuts, toffee, molasses, chocolate. Their Rare Muscat was no slouch, coming across as drier, with a darker molasses tone and heavier malt. For the money, the Grand Muscat is spectacular.

Chamber's Rosewood wines were also a close second, but presented as a bit sweeter overall, while still showing tremendous complexity. Their Grand Muscat may well have been my wine of the flight. It shows all the layers and complexity I love in these wines, perfectly wrapped in a sweetly, savory, and nuanced package. Dried cane syrup, coffee, walnuts, bitter chocolate, fresh and dried fruits - it's all in here.

Other producers shown were: Jones, All Saint's, Morris, Pfeiffer and Rutherglen Estate. Rutherglen Estate's Muscat was a real find as well. Dry coffee, cocoa, caramel, creme brulee sugar, fresh cherry and apricot. A super-value at this pricepoint. Overall, I found the wines of Pfeiffer to be a bit offputting. There was a strange VA (nail polish remover) wave coming off the wines consistently. Their Rare Muscat was the best of their wines, but paled in comparison to the other houses in that style.



We took a quick jaunt out into the vineyard to taste some of the grapes and a walk through the barrel rooms. There were some amazing, old barrels to look at and we managed to sneak a taste of some wine from one of them.

Following the tasting, the boys headed over to a local pub for a palate-cleansing ale before dinner. We were shocked to hear that they would be closing up shop at 7pm. Not a happening place in Rutherglen, it seems...

Dinner was held at All Saint's winery, which looked very much like a medieval castle. We were greeted with sparkling wines (including Shiraz), as well as some still whites from the area. After a few speeches and thanks, we made our way into the barrel room where a table was set for dinner. It appears that I left or lost my tasting notes from this dinner, but I can say that the still reds in this region come closer in style to those from the Barossa that we are used to here in the States (with exceptions, of course). Some older wines were poured that seemed tired, but younger wines with more controlled alcohols were very good.

I managed to get my first exercise in the next morning with a jog through Rutherglen and its surrounding countryside. When we finally got the group together, we managed a stop at Parker's Pies. Dawn bought a couple of Kangaroo Meat Pies for us to try. My first experience with kangaroo meat, it probably wasn't the best example. While tender, it mostly tasted of the gravy it was cooked in and had a weird gelatinous jelly on its exterior that was off-putting. I also picked up their "Signature Meat Pie" which was pretty awesome - especially for breakfast!



We pulled out of Rutherglen fairly early and settled in for a long car ride to Ngambie Lakes. Eyes always peeled for the elusive kangaroo and koala, we took in the scenery of the Victorian landscape.