Muscat & Topaque

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VICTORIA'S GIFT

Victoria has long been blessed with an abundance of marvellous golden things.

From the heart-stopping glister of Goldfields’ supersized nuggets to the spellbinding shimmer of Kylie’s teeny hotpants, Victoria has generously shared her gilded gifts with the world. But for wine lovers, it’s a lay down misère: Victoria’s greatest gifts, bar none, are the exquisitely sweet golden fortifieds that are produced exclusively in the towns of Rutherglen and Glenrowan. These rich, luscious sweeties – dripping with flavours of butterscotch, marmalade, toffee and treacle – have been delighting Aussies since the days of the gold rush.

TOPAQUE

If it sounds like a made-up name, that’s because it is. This is the wine we once – naively, and incorrectly – referred to as Tokay. Which it wasn’t – on any level. Whereas Tokay – or more correctly, Tokaji – comes exclusively from the Hungarian region of Tokaj, our wine comes exclusively from the hot northeastern corner of Victoria. Where Tokaji is primarily made from the Furmint grape, ours is made from the white grape, Muscadelle.

Muscadelle (confusingly not a member of the Muscat family) hails originally from France, where it’s regarded as something of an also-ran grape – a minor component of Sauternes, which otherwise fails to distinguish itself. (They’re tough markers, the French.)

But in Victoria’s northeast, where autumns are long and dry, and hot summer days are cooled by evening downdraughts from the Victorian Alps, Muscadelle reveals its inner magic. Here – and only here – does Muscadelle produce complex, syrupy, deep golden wines, with malty, honeyed notes and a distinctive flash of cold tea. The world now knows them as Topaque.

MUSCAT

Topaque has a beguiling co-conspirator – a darker, more complex wine, often described as a rich and mysterious cross between a wine and a spirit. Which is probably why (before the EU intervened) we referred to it as Liqueur Muscat.

Muscat is made from the Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains grape. (Forget the Blanc part of the name: ours is a particularly dark-skinned version – in fact, it’s a brownish colour.) This ancient and noble variety of the Muscat family gives up fragrant musky aromas and flavours of marmalade, orange blossom, spices and nuts. As a young wine, it makes a gorgeous aperitif. Serve it well-chilled alongside prosciutto and melon, or pongy cheeses.

But Muscat, like wine writers, really comes into its own with age...

THE HOW

To make these magnificent golden gargles, grapes are left to semi-raisin (shrivel) on the vine, concentrating sugars. Once harvested, they’re partially fermented then fortified with grape spirit to retain natural sweetness. But the sorcery comes from a unique wood-ageing programme developed specifically for these styles. In a setup that resembles a cross between a solera, and an estufa (the hothouse system used to make Madeira), Muscat and Topaque undergo a long, slow oxidative caramelisation. The effect is transformative, resulting in rich, complex wines of incredible intensity and length.

CLASSIFICATIONS

Rutherglen winemakers have developed a self-imposed classification system for their luscious lovelies. The four tiers are indicative not simply of age, but also, of quality and standard. They are:

Rutherglen

The foundation style, with an average age of three to five years. Expect fresh fruit aromas, rich fruit on the palate, clean grape spirit and excellent length.

Classic

A maturing style, aged up to 10 years. You’ll find greater levels of richness and complexity, and the beginnings of rancio characters from prolonged oak maturation.

Grand

A fully mature style, with up to 19 years in oak. Mouth-filling and complex; seamless layers of textural flavour and luscious viscosity.

Rare

The Top of the Wozza! (Although the good winemakers of Rutherglen would probably prefer the phrase pinnacle of the collection.) Aged 20 years or more, these are the richest and most complete wines: deeply coloured, with intense fruit and rancio characters, rich viscosity, and extraordinary depth of complex flavours.

They may have lost their youthful, golden lustre, but these stunning Victorian beauties are real bucket-listers – something everyone should try at least once in their life.

You can’t say the same for lamé hotpants.