The Pfeiffer’s Sticky Rutherglen Story

The Pfeiffer’s Sticky Rutherglen Story

It is time for a sticky holiday season and here is why Rutherglen fortifieds should grace your table this year!  A little treat for yourself.

With the rich desserts of the holiday season there is little doubt as to why fortified wines, such as Port and of course, these Muscats and Topaques are so popular. The best have complexity but also must have freshness, otherwise they end up sitting like syrup on your tongue – thick and cloying.  They should move seamlessly from the dinner table to the sofa for that post meal gossip. Even better, if you don’t finish the bottle then you will be able to enjoy it over the next week when friends and family drop around.

Australia has such a rich fortified wine history and it has been firmly enmeshed with the Rutherglen region in North West Victoria.  The Pfeiffer family are relative newcomers to the area, having acquired the Seppelt property in the 1980’s.  The family has been very busy since and not only offers a wide range of table wines but also a great range of fortified wines.

The family’s fortified range includes an Australian fino, and a ruby port styled wine, both labeled as Apera as per the new labeling guidelines released since the 2007 agreement to cease using the terms Port, Sherry and Tokay.

On my recent trip to the region, it was the muscats and topaques that I was seeking out. There are some great producers of these styles of fortified wines in the Rutherglen with wineries such as Chambers (1858), Stanton & Killeen (1864), Campbells (1870) remaining family owned, and others such as Morris (1859) and All Saints (1864) continuing their fortified production for over 100 years.  Hence, their base wines for their Rare Muscats and Topaques may have have been added to the barrel well over fifty years ago.  During that time these wines have had much air time and have the typical rich, rancio fruitcake character.

Pfeiffer are open about the fact that they ‘only’ have reserves of 25 years to work with for their ‘Rare’ levels of these muscats and topaques. However, they have used them well and the difference between the Grand and Rare levels are distinct with the Rare having that element of extra depth and complexity.

What gives these wines their distinctive luscious sweetness? The Muscat and Muscadelle varieties of grapes used to produce them have a natural tendency already for producing very sweet wines when fully ripe. Even more so when left to shrivel on the vine or, in some cases, on racks after picking.  This process concentrates the sugars as the water evaporates.

After the grapes have been pressed and fermented to a lower alcohol (sometimes just a few percent of alcohol has been produced) with plenty of residual sugar left in the wine, the wines are then fortified and stored in old inert barrels and may stay there for a quarter of a century or more.  Fresh new wines might also be added to freshen up previous vintages and keep them topped up after the wine evaporates from the barrels, concentrating the contents even more.

The final sugar level of the wines with the oldest base wines will be some of the sweetest in the wine world. The sweetest Pfeiffer Muscats sit just under 300 grammes/Litre.  Putting that into perspective – a Sauternes wine may have under half this sweetness. The current vintage, 2007 Chateau Yquem has 137 grammes/Litre.  I have seen some with residual sugar levels over 350 grammes/Litre rivaling the great PX sherries making them incredibly rich, dense and almost as much sugar that can be packed into a wine. I have only tasted one style of wine sweeter – a Tokaji Essencia which is almost like honey in texture.

For a more detailed description visit the www.winemakers.com.au site to find out how these treasures are produced.

Here is a quick review on the Pfeiffer’s Muscat range.

Pfeiffer Rutherglen Muscat ($20) – The average age of the muscat in this bottle is five years so this is the lightest in texture and flavour. This sweet muscat has a more honeyed appeal to the raisin, ginger and caramel and zest characters. It has a similar sweetness level to a botrytis dessert wine with just under 200 grammes/Litre of residual sugar. A great wine to enjoy with lighter desserts such as crème brulee and warm golden syrup steamed sponge pudding.

Pfeiffer Rutherglen Classic Muscat ($30) – There is a deeper quality to this wine with an extra five years age on average.  This extra time gives additional complexity with some fragrant tea notes to the nose and toffee and fig flavours.  It is fresh and luscious and sweet but not cloying at around 260 grammes/Litre of residual sugar. A sticky toffee pudding kind of dessert.

Pfeiffer Rutherglen Grand Muscat ($83.50) – Now we are beginning to talk sticky sticky at just under 300 grammes/Litre of residual sugar. And with this increase in the level of sweetness, the texture is getting denser.  Treacle, dried fruits and Christmas cake delight the senses. Start bringing out the chocolate desserts and treacle tarts.

Pfeiffer Rutherglen Rare Muscat ($123) – The quarter of a century of maturation has given this wine a richness that still has a fresh sweep of acid to keep it lively.  Dark chocolate, nuts and dried fruit are plentiful and generous last in the mouth. This is a wine to sip, it is very difficult to rush it. Those chocolate desserts just got that much richer and the cheese that much riper.