Chambers Rosewood Vineyards Muscat NV (375 ml) Fashion

Description

Chambers Rosewood Vineyards Muscat NV (375 ml)

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 partially fermented before fortification. Wood aging follows in a program loosely resembling a solera system, lasting, in some cases, for over 100 years.

TASTING NOTES: Produced from Muscat a Petit Grains, or Brown Muscat as it is more commonly known, this blend is comprised of material aged between six and ten years old. Amber gold in color with copper hues, the nose offers fresh raisins, sultanas, lifted spirit and cinnamon oak spices. The palate is rich and silky, its sweet dried fruits balanced by aged oak tannins and bright acidity, providing a clean, rather than cloying, finish.

WINEMAKER: Stephen Chambers

89 Points Wine Spectator
“Burnt sugar, tobacco, mahogany and apple cider aromas complement the firm, focused core, centered around toasted hazelnut and spice flavors, with a firm edge of acidity. Drink now. 500 cases imported.” — MW