New World

Question 1

Fortified topaque from Rutherglen is made from?

Answer 1

Muscadelle

Question 2

California

Answer 2

Large volumes of basic sweet fortified wines. Mainly like Cream Sherries with hot oxidative aging + RCGM sweetening. San Joaquin and Madera: better quality Muscat & Port styles (Ruby/ Tawny). Fortified sweet reds from Zinfandel, Cab Sauv, Petit Sirah.

Question 3

Other South African

Answer 3

Most Port styles from Rhone or Port Varieties (eg Shiraz, Mourvèdre, Tinta Barroca, Sousao). Specially of Boberg region. Sherry styles based on Chenin Blanc, Palomino, Semillon and PX.

Question 4

Muskadel- Definition

Answer 4

Mistrelle made from Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains

Question 5

Muskadel- Location

Answer 5

Robertson, Worcester (South Africa)

Question 6

Muskadel- Grape Varieties

Answer 6

Muscat Blanc a Petit Grains

Question 7

Muskadel- Vinification

Answer 7

Spirit added to the juice (as for Mistela)

Question 8

Muskadel- Sales

Answer 8

Declining

Question 9

Other Australian

Answer 9

Very hi. Quality sweet fortified reds made in vintage and tawny styles from Shiraz and Rhone varieties. Madiera & Sherry style also produced.

Question 10

Liqueur Muscat & Liqueur Tokay- Definition

Answer 10

Dark, sweet, alcoholic tasting like Madeira & Malaga

Question 11

Liqueur Muscat &Liqueur Tokay- Location

Answer 11

Hot north eastern corner of Victoria (Rutherglen & Glenrowan)

Question 12

Liqueur Muscat & Liqueur Tokay- Climate

Answer 12

Hot, sunny and dry Continental

Question 13

Liqueur Muscat & Liqueur Tokay- Soils

Answer 13

Water retaining deep red loam

Question 14

Liqueur Muscat & Liqueur Tokay- Grape Varieties

Answer 14

Brown Muscat (dark skinned Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains)
Muscadelle ("Tokay" in OZ)

Question 15

Liqueur Muscat & Liqueur Tokay- Viticulture

Answer 15

Mostly unirrigated. No botrytis.

Question 16

Liqueur Muscat & Liqueur Tokay- Vinification & styles

Answer 16

Grapes semi- Raisonee on vines. Partial fermentation with 160g/l minimum sugar. Fortified with grape spirit. Aged in wood in a system resembling both Solera and estufagem, in which the wines are blended but also concentrated in flavours & sugars by evaporation. Oxidative aging. Wines obtained do not change with bottle age.

Question 17

Liqueur Muscat & Liqueur Tokay- Classification

Answer 17

Voluntary, self regulated system with growing richness & complexity.

1) Rutherglen Muscat,
2) Classic- 5 yrs avg age,
3) Grand- 10 hrs avg age,
4) Rare- 15 yrs avg age

Question 18

Commandaria- definition

Answer 18

15% ABV dark dessert wine with honeyed, raisiny flavour. Made from partially raisined grapes. Fortified after fermentation.

Question 19

Commandaria- Location

Answer 19

Delimited region around the Troodos foothills (14 villages)

Question 20

Commandaria- History

Answer 20

In 13th, a commandery was a manor or group of manors which had its own vineyards & under authority of Commendator. 1993: 1st Cypriot wine to get full legal protection on origin and production techniques

Question 21

Commandaria- Grape Varieties

Answer 21

Mavro: black variety; the most planted variety (75%); hi juice to skin ratio
Xynisteri: White variety; 2nd most planted wine grape. Increase.

Question 22

Commandaria- Viticulture

Answer 22

Low trained bush vines

Question 23

Commandria- Vinification

Answer 23

After picking (Sept.), grape are dried in the sun for at least 1 wk to concentrate sugar up to around 400g/L. Ferment must take place in the commandria region. Ferment stops before all sugar converted with min ABV of 10%. Wine moved to Limassol to have 95% pure grape spirit or 70% wine distillate to a 20% ABV. Maturation must be in oak casks for min 2 yrs. usually underground cellars but can be 3- tier Solera system.

Question 24

Muscat of Samos- Definition

Answer 24

Greeces most famous wine after Retsina

Question 25

Muscat of Samos- Location

Answer 25

Island by Turkish shores. 800m terraces on steep hillsides.

Question 26

Muscat of Samos- Vinification & Styles

Answer 26

Samos Doux: fortified before ferment
Samos VDN: fortified to interrupt ferment
Samos Nectar: unfortified dried grapes wine up to 14% ABV + 3 yrs in cask

Question 27

Muscat of Samos- Sales

Answer 27

50% of annual production exported to France

Question 28

Mavrodaphne of Patras- Definition

Answer 28

Port like dessert wine. Aromatic, powerful. Mavrodaphne= “Black Laurel”

Question 29

Mavrodaphne of Patras- Location

Answer 29

South of Peloponnese peninsula

Question 30

Mavrodaphne of Patras- Vinification & Styles

Answer 30

Main grape is Mavrodaphne. Korinthiaki also allowed. Fortified at 4% ABV and usually cask aged resulting in tawny style.

Question 31

Moscatel de Valencia- Spain

Answer 31

Mistela (sweet, stable mixture of grape & alcohol resulting from addition of alcohol to early fermenting juice) fortified to 15% ABV. Simple fresh perfumes fruit of the Muscat of Alexandria variety but none of the textural or aromatic by products of fermentation.

Question 32

Rutherglen Muscat- Location

Answer 32

North East Victoria

Question 33

Rutherglen Muscat- Climate

Answer 33

Warm, high levels of sunshine with wide diurnal range and long dry autumns

Question 34

Rutherglen Muscat- Soils

Answer 34

Deep, moisture retaining, alluvial red loam

Question 35

Rutherglen Muscat- Grape Varieties

Answer 35

Brown Muscat (Muscat a Petits Grains Rouge)

Question 36

Rutherglen Muscat- Viticulture

Answer 36

The long dry growing season allows for grapes, unaffected by botrytis, to shrivel and achieve 17 degrees to 18 degrees. Dry farming is common.

Question 37

Rutherglen Muscat- Winery

Answer 37

Fermentation only reaches a few degrees before it is fortified to 18% abv. The wine is aged in various sized oak casks in very hot conditions. Evaporation, heat and oxidation are all important in the final style and quality of the wine. Blending (sometimes the use of a solera system) are important to maintain the style and consistency of a producer’s style.

Question 38

Rutherglen Muscat- Classifications

Answer 38

A voluntary system is operated by the Muscat of Rutherglen Network

Four Levels of category: Rutherglen Muscat, Classic Rutherglen Muscat, Grand Rutherglen Muscat and Rare Rutherglen Muscat

Question 39

Liqueur Muscat

Answer 39

Old name for the very special sort of stickie made in australia from Brown muscat grapes. For more, see topaque.

Question 40

Topaque/ Muscat

Answer 40

They taste something like a cross between madeira and traditional dark málaga, and are two of australia’s great gifts to the world made from, respectively, muscadelle, traditionally known as Tokay in Australia, and a very dark-skinned strain of muscat blanc à petits grains, called here Brown Muscat. Grapes are semi-raisined on the vine, partially fermented, and then fortified with grape spirit before being subjected to an unusual wood-ageing programme that resembles a cross between a sherry solera and, under many a hot tin roof, a Madeira estufagem. The results can be uncannily fine quality, are bottled when they are ready to drink, and do not change with bottle age.

Question 41

Rutherglen- History Part 1

Answer 41

• Since 1850’s.
• Lindsay Brown had selected his ‘Gooramadda Run’ in the late 1840’s and is the father of the local wine industry when he planted his four acre v/yard to the west of Rutherglen some ten years later Brown has been credited with a quote that has endured through the years
• ‘Dig gentleman dig, but no deeper than six inches, for there is more gold to be won from the top six inches than from all of the depths below’
• More plantings followed and the wines of the nth-est soon found strong favour throughout the colony.
• Wineries around then and now include: Gehrigs - 1859, Chambers Rosewood - 1859, Morris- 1859, Mount Prior - 1860, St Leonards - 1860, All Saints Estate - 1864, Campbells - 1870, Stanton & Killeen - 1875.
• 1880s more expansion, 3000 acres of vines spread across 50 recognised vineyards (and considerably more smaller farm orchards),
• Rutherglen was producing approximately a third of all wine in Australia.
• Won prizes internationally in the London, Paris and Bordeaux exhibitions, and exports back to the ‘Mother Country’ flowed.
• The largest holdings of the time included George Francis Morris whose Fairfield property grew to 650 acres under vine, the Graham brothers of Netherby (350 acres), Alex Caughey at Mount Prior (350 acres) and George Smith of All Saints Estate (250 acres).

Question 42

Rutherglen- History Part 2

Answer 42

• Prospers into the 1890’s, Phylloxera comes, near Geelong in the late 1870’s.
• In May 1899 the news that many had been dreading swept the district; phylloxera had been detected in Rutherglen. It was particularly devastating coming at a time when many had invested heavily in vines to take advantage of Rutherglen’s strong and still growing reputation.

Question 43

Rutherglen- History Part 3

Answer 43

• Many hardy souls remained committed to the the wine industry, and indeed some vineyards were spared from pyhlloxera for a number of years. Those planted on sandy soils seemed to be less susceptible
• By 1905 phylloxera had claimed all but a few isolated pockets Research had centred on developing phylloxera resistant vines by taking rootstock from a genus of north american vine that had proven resistant to phylloxera and grafting on the desired cuttings suitable for table wine production from the vitis vinifera genus. A trial vineyard was planted at Wahgunyah and after some early problems in establishing the vineyard it was deemed successful, and they soon had a vineyard of some fourteen acres in production. The program would be boosted further by the appointment of Francois de Castella as the Victorian State Viticulturist in 1907. A highly skilled botanist who had studied in Switzerland, de Castella travelled to Europe to collect suitable cuttings for the Australian climate that would be developed at the Rutherglen college. This included the introduction of Durif in 1908. Needless to say the regions winemakers remain eternally grateful to this day. Over the next thirty years more than 5 million resistant rootlings were supplied by the Rutherglen Viticulture College to re-establish vineyards in Rutherglen and further afield.

Question 44

Rutherglen- History Part 4

Answer 44

As resistant vineyards came to bear Rutherglen was well positioned to regain marketshare, and some did so particularly well. The Burgoyne Brothers operation at Mount Ophir grew to a mammoth 700 acres with much of the production bound for England. Graham’s large Netherby enterprise grew to 700 acres also. The scale of the regions vineyards waxed and waned for some thirty years in line with market demands. The lack of colonial trade barriers meant that South Australian wine found its way on to Melbourne shelves. Later import duties would affect the demand for Australian wines in Britain, and consumer tastes would change as they are perpetually bound to do. It became clear that the Golden Age for Rutherglen producers was over.

Question 45

Rutherglen- History Part 5

Answer 45

• Thankfully a number of family wineries stuck to their task through the 1950’s and 60’s in what must have been trying times. Majority of wineries in Rutherglen were mixed farming businesses This served in spreading the risk
• There remained a solid domestic market for Rutherglen fortifieds on account of their quality and carriage loads of hogsheads, gallon jars and flagons found their way to Melbourne by rail.
• Mid sixties it is said that there were 21 registered vineyards in Victoria and 13 of those were in Rutherglen, which highlights just how far into disrepair the industry had fallen.
• In 1967 the Rutheglen wineries bonded together to hold the very first Rutherglen Wine Festival. The festival ws an outstanding success, evidently the $50 stake was quite safe, and the balance of the proceeds were used to erect the steel top of the giant wine bottle which still dominates the Rutherglen landscape today. To that point in time the wine bottle has been a rather inocuous looking water tank.
• The 2nd change for Rutherglen: The influx of migrants to the country through the late fifties and early sixties slowly but steadily increased the demand for wines, particularly table wines. In the 1860’s Rutherglen’s burgeoning reputation was built on ‘burgundy’, ‘claret’ and other table wine styles, and some 100 years later it seemed the industry had finally come full circle. This period laid the foundation for the modern Rutherglen wine industry - boutique, family owned, quality driven winemakers producing a full range of sparkling and still red and white tables wines, and still making the world’s finest fortifieds.

Question 46

Rutherglen- Climate

Answer 46

• Same heat degree days summation as the Clare Valley and same sunshine hours as the Gold Coast in Queensland.
• Cool nights, warm days and a normally long dry autumn
• Rutherglen reds such as Shiraz and Durif develop a rich core of fruit, and firm natural tannin structure which combine to make them great cellaring wines, and enable them to be made into powerful vintage, and complex tawny ports.

Question 47

Rutherglen- Soils

Answer 47

a band of loam on the lower slopes of the gentle local hills. This snakes its way around the centre and extends to the east, west and south of the township of Rutherglen.

The other entirely different soil type is “‘Black Dog fine sandy loam” which is found around the wineries closer to the Murray River.

The predominant subsoil is classed as medium heavy clay, that which is associated with gold mining.