RAISINS IN A BOTTLE AND OTHER SNIPPETS- RUTHERGLEN (8 -11 APRIL 2016)

It was time to get down to business...sticky business! Payback time. "Your turn to drive, Lizzie". We were off to the tiny River Murray town of Wahgunyah, or more to the point, to the Pfeiffer cellar door where we were to meet Chris Pfeiffer and fulfil the main objective of our visit to this region....acquire a few bottles of the marvellous fortified wine for which Rutherglen is so rightly famous.

The Pfeiffer establishment is but a ten minute drive from Rutherglen and lies on the banks of the Sunday Creek. We parked the Cruiser under the trees

and wandered through the entrance gates.

Before heading off to the cellar door we turned left and made our way down the path

to visit the very well known Sunday Creek bridge which serves more than its original purpose these days. Built in 1905, and extensively rebuilt since, the bridge allows access from the winery to the nearby vineyards on the other side of Sunday Creek. 

In a very clever marketing move, tables and chairs are dotted along the bridge under shade umbrellas which converts the bridge into a venue for many functions, formal and otherwise. The Easter Sunday breakfast is a real highlight. But for those who cannot make it to the organised bashes here, the tables are available for any who wish to picnic informally (by arrangement of course)

whilst enjoying the riparian views along this quite substantial waterway which is home to many turtles, fish and  even platypus.

This photo on the cellar door wall shows a crowd on the bridge making the most of the venue, the weather, the food and the wine.

For us it was off to the cellar door and the serious business of tasting. The Pfeiffer family make much of a play on the 'f' sound of their name in their signage and all their promotional material.....perhaps a little over the top on occasion in my view, but each to his or her own and every business needs an edge.

I have no such quibble with their product, which I duly sampled whilst having a good yarn to Chris about all the work which has gone into converting what began life as a brandy distillery into the fine winery we see today.

As I have previously noted, the two main fortified wines of this region are Muscat and Topaque. Muscat is a raisin type grape, whilst the basis for the production of topaque is the furmint grape, one originally grown in the Tokaj region of Hungary. It takes no great leap of the imagination to understand that the fortified wine 'Tokay' took its name from this region. But like so much of what is going on in the European wine industry (and the EU food industry generally), the Hungarians have raised a stink about the use of the name 'tokay' for any product which does not originate in their country. Many other Australian wines have suffered the same fate over recent years (we can no longer call sparkling white 'champagne', for example) and so, after a local competition to come up with a new name, Australian produced 'tokay' is now known as 'topaque'.

But who gives a hoot about the insularity (and some serious jealousy) of the Europeans and the name of the product...it's the taste which counts and in this regard the EU is left seriously in the lurch.





Our next port of call (think about it!) was to be the Campbells' establishment, a much more modern looking set up than that at Pfeiffers.

Here the storage of much of what is on offer forms part of the general ambiance

but I was far more concerned with the business end of the cellar door where mine host, the proudly loquacious and most obliging Ian, provided me with one of the biggest treats of our time on the road.

I was honest enough to say that we weren't interested in anything other than the stickies, but that I did want to go right through the list of them. Why would one not do so in this region? Ian was more than happy to oblige.....I suspect he may have (mis)judged me to be someone with a fat purse, and chatted away happily about all he as pouring into the liberal tasting glasses.

The fortified wines are generally slotted into one of four classes, but rather than banging on in my amateurish fashion, let me now quote directly from the 'rutherglenvic.com' website. And for those who are utterly disinterested in the ins and outs of muscat production....'look away now!!' 

"The Grape

There are more than 200 varieties in the muscat family, but only one is used to make Rutherglen Muscat - the high quality Muscat a Petits Grains Rouge (muscat with little red berries). The local winemakers refer to it simply as Rutherglen Brown Muscat. 

The Making of Muscat

To make the world's richest wine it stands to reason that you need ripe fruit. Very ripe fruit. Rutherglen enjoys a particular advantage in this regard, with our climate perfectly suited to the task of ripening muscat. The period around vintage (March, April, May) is renowned for being mild, sunny and stable in and around Rutherglen; often referred to as an 'Indian Summer'. This allows the muscat fruit an extra period of 'hangtime' on the vine, resulting in the impossibly high baumes (measurement of natural fruit sugars) required for Rutherglen Muscat. 

Soil and topography play a role also. Whilst the key flavours of muscat are common to all, certain vineyards and soil types promote certain characters. The lighter sandy soils following the Murray River (known locally as the Wahgunah Belt) often produces more highly perfumed wines with delicate fruit characters. The grey/brown Rutherglen loam found on higher grounds generally results in richer, heavier and headier wines. 

In the winery the fruit is sensitively handled and fortified with a natural grape spirit. From here the wine starts a journey in barrel that may last as few as 5 or as many as 105 years. Young, fresh and fruity Rutherglen Muscat is often bottled at around five years of age (see The Classification below). The very best muscat is essentially impervious to age, and can develop in barrel for many generations as a base component for future blends.  

Rutherglen Muscat is rarely bottled as a single vintage wine. More often it will be a blend of many vintages that have been ageing in the winery. The ageing process can vary from winery to winery, but most employ a modified solera system; a graduated ageing process where wine is transferred slowly from barrel to barrel over a number of years before finally being bottled. 

The Makers Mark

Climate is the key reason why muscat works so well in Rutherglen, but history plays a big role also. You simply cannot replicate more than 150 years of family winemaking, and many of the regions wineries have precious stocks of muscat handed down through three, four and even five generations. 

And of course the value of time lies not just in the wine, but the knowledge that accumulates over that period as well. Each muscat house has been able to hone their craft over a long period of time, and develop a highly identifiable 'house style'. Skilled winemakers in the district need little more than a quick sip to place the origins of a wine; they have their makers mark all over them. 

The Classification

Rutherglen Muscats are classified under four descriptions that mark a progression in richness, complexity and intensity of flavour. Although age is only one factor in determining a wine's classification, it does provide some clue, especially for the Grand and Rare wines.

Rutherglen Muscat – is the foundation of the style; displaying the fresh raisin aromas, rich fruit, clean spirit and great length of flavour on the palate which are the mark of all the Muscats of Rutherglen. Average age 3-5 years. Residual sweetness 180-240 grams per litre.

Classic Rutherglen Muscat – displays a greater level of richness and complexity, produced through the blending of selected parcels of wine, often matured in various sizes of oak cask to impart the distinctive dry ‘rancio’ characters produced from maturation in seasoned wood. Average age 6-10 years. Residual sweetness 200-280 grams per litre.

Grand Rutherglen Muscat – takes the flavour of Rutherglen Muscat to a still higher plane of development, displaying a new level of intensity, depth and concentration of flavour, mature rancio characters, and a complexity which imparts layers of texture and flavour. Average age 11-19 years. Residual sweetness 270-400 grams per litre.

Rare Rutherglen Muscat – is rare by name and by nature. These are the pinnacle Rutherglen Muscats – fully developed and displaying the extraordinary qualities that result from the blending of selected parcels of only the very richest, and most complete wines in the cellar. Rare Rutherglen Muscats are only bottled in tiny quantities each year, but for those privileged to taste them, these are wines of breathtaking complexity, texture and depth of flavour. Minimum age 20+ years. Residual sweetness 270-400 grams per litre."

So for those of you who have waded through all of the above, you will see that there is much more to the claim made by the Rutherglen winemakers about the superior nature of their product than meets the eye. 

Interestingly, Liz still rates Crabtree of Watervale in the Clare valley as being up with Rutherglen in the liqueur muscat stakes, and as far as the selections up to 'Grand' are concerned, I agree. But beyond that......the Rutherglen region stands alone!

And how do I know that?  Well, here we come to  the highlight of my day. I had tried the range up to and including the 'classics' and was about to make my selection of purchases, when I was invited to sample two of the 'Grands', a muscat and a topaque (the 'Rare' classification is never, ever, offered for tasting), and the 'Grands' very exceptionally which was why I almost fell over).

To top it all off, Ian completed my tasting experience by offering me a small bean of chocolate to complete the experience.....dark with the muscat and milk with the topaque. In a word....wow!  I actually do know a bit about these wines, and can categorically and unequivocally now state that these were the two best I have ever tasted....'raisins in a bottle' indeed.

Sadly, at a price of $120, a bottle (350 mls) of either of these was well beyond our means (at the moment....I am scheming....and saving) but just to have the opportunity to sample both was a real thrill.  

This is not to say we left either winery empty handed, but our purchases were very much in the modest range.....three 'ordinary' and three 'classic'.  And who's a very, very happy boy then? The classics, in particular, will only be coming out from under the bed on conspicuously special occasions.

The fortified wines of Rutherglen had certainly lived up to my expectations. We had achieved what we came here to do...almost.  Before we head back to the mountains, a few final snippets of our stay here.

We cannot resist a country market, and that which was set up in the Rutherglen Lions Park was no exception. 

We hardly ever buy anything, but it is good fun to see just how many of the usual suspects pitch a stall and do their best to separate all and sundry from their cash. 

Another real feature of difference in this town, and another of Australia's 'big things' is the 'wine bottle'. This stands out for miles on the eastern road into Rutherglen, and is pretty prominent from most areas of the town.

As we toddled off down one of the back streets towards this landmark, we passed quite a number of the old, typical cottages of this district.....small wooden constructions with their ubiquitous twin brick fireplace chimneys.

The 'wine bottle' is a towering edifice in every sense of the word. Here the good burghers of Rutherglen decided to celebrate the fact that the town has never been gripped by crippling water restrictions by capping the top of the local water storage tower with a mesh 'cork' and other bits and pieces to resemble a bottle. Completed in December 1969, this has remained a modern symbol of Rutherglen ever since. Like most of Australia's other 'big things', one does sometimes wonder why.

Of similarly grand proportions is my final offering from 'historic' Rutherglen, the Mount Carmel Priory....and here I have to include a mea culpa.....for some strange reason I did not make my usual investigation about its history. We'll just have to marvel at the proportions of this old building and note the fact that Rutherglen's gold rush origins did much to fund local infrastructure.

After all this running around, and having been sorely tempted by the smells of the breakfast stands at the market, it was time to indulge ourselves in a rare treat....a Sunday brunch. Chief Pierre's galley again resonated with the sound of hissing gas burners and the clatter of the griller tray. It's amazing just how good this tastes when we plate up in this manner so rarely.

We did the right thing, however, and appeased our collective conscience by later completing a circuit of Lake King via its walking track.  From here we could gain a good view over the 

lake to the rows of caravans on the other side. This really is a pretty spot. 

The tramp almost proved too much for Liz who decided that she should give credence to this oddly designed and decorated lakeside 'lounge',

but she did later muster the energy to accompany me on my last photographic foray. As one would expect, Rutherglen hosts a very large winery and cellar door, but there is much more to this complex than wine.

Here, in these buildings on the western approach to Main Street, visitors can indulge not only in wine tasting but enjoy a tasty meal at the cafe which sits just beyond this open courtyard, where, to my surprise, prices are all capped at $13.50 per dish.

Later in the day, the formal dining room provides a venue for those wishing to munch in a far more up-market and elegant fashion (as I could see as I peered through the blinds).....at a cost.....as you would expect.

A large motel complements all else which is on offer here. The fact that a finely designed wrought iron pergola stands in the surrounding vineyard would suggest that this is a very popular venue for those 'tying the knot'.

But our knot is already tied, so we had no need to enquire further of the good folk of the Rutherglen Winery. All that now remained was to repair back to base, pull down and make ready to return to Myrtleford from where we planned to make a proper visit to Bright (rather than force our way through the throng whilst in transit as we did over Easter), make much of what we hoped by now would be really colourful autumn leaves, visit Harrietville and poke our noses down into the Buckland Valley, not to mention have a good look at Myrtleford itself.  We were far from done with Victoria's Alpine region yet.