

Sunday lunch with friends - no formal notes. An excellent finish to a meal and a staple in an Australian winter. Notes of fruit cake, not as liquid raisins as the Muscat. Fortified wines from the Rutherglen district in Victoria are one of Australia’s gifts to the world of wine. — 4 years ago
Selection of small and super lignified bunches.
This selection wants to honor David Herd founder and winemaker of Auntsfield site in 1892. He had been making wine till 1905 and then his son-in-law kept his legacy until the 1931.
Then probhitionism came in NZ and all the vines were displanted at Auntsfield till the Cowley family arrived and put everything in place.
The story is that the Cowleys have a bottle of old fortified Muscat made by David Herd(born in Rutherglen) in his last year of work at the property in 1905 and every barrel of this wine his blessed with a teaspoon of that syrup..."so that we can lick the spoon" Ben says.
The wine is an explosion of flavors, tasters say that blindly is hard to say it is a pinot noir.
It is rich, complex and literally explodes in every direction in your mouth.
Hard to explain, an experience you have to go through yourself.
Extensive persistence on the palate.
1500 bottle only made in the best vintages obviously. — a year ago
Good aged character. Still lots of fruit and body. Delicious! — 3 years ago
Probably one of my very favorites. A gorgeous wine from old vine grapes with five percent of white Muscaldelle which really rounds out the finish. Amazing 🥂 — a year ago
The perfect accompaniment to plum pudding. Very toffee and raisiny with intensity at 18.5% ABV. My son who rarely drinks anything loved it. Don’t worry. I’m sure I haven’t created a monster. He still went for his regular 10K run on Boxing Day. Rutherglen fortifieds are one of Australia’s gifts to the world of wine. — a year ago
[This is the “Classic” level classification in Rutherglen, Level 2 out of 4 levels in increasing levels of concentration.] We first met Mr. Bill Chambers in 1989 at the winery, and tasted his INCREDIBLE dessert wines. We finally made it back in December of 2023, and sadly, Bill passed away about 6 weeks after our visit this time — RIP, Mr. Chambers, my only regret is that we cannot find this “Classic” level in the U.S.
Absolutely fabulous Muscadelle, smooth, super complex, this last visit to Rutherglen we realized the “Classic” level was our collective sweet spot, long, lingering finish, such a fantastic dessert wine!! — 2 years ago
Delicious paired with dark chocolate. Perfect ending to a meal — 4 years ago
Doug Powers
[Half-bottle] This lovely sweet orange peel and apricot Australian Muscadelle is a great stickie for dessert with some Junior’s Gooey Butter Cake from Costco, long finish, still miss our couple of visits with Bill Chambers at the winery (first in 1989)!! — 3 months ago