This year's Decanter World Wine Awards Regional Trophy for Australian Fortified over £15 went to Stanton & Killeen, Grand Topaque, Rutherglen, Victoria NV (18%)
Tasted against:
All Saints Estate, Grand Muscat, Rutherglen, Victoria NV
Grant Burge, 20 Year Old Tawny, Barossa, South Australia
Morris, Cellar One Classic Liqueur Muscat, Rutherglen, Victoria NV
Morris, Cellar One Classic Liqueur Topaque, Rutherglen,Victoria NV
Morris, Old Premium Rare Liqueur Muscat, Rutherglen, Victoria NV
Profile:
Australia’s fortifieds boast a long and distinguished tradition – a unique contribution to the wine world, styled from within. Previously referred to as ‘Tokays’, Hungarian sweet-wine sensibilities caught up with the Australians in the mid-1990s, and Victoria’s Tokay, made from 100% Muscadelle, became Topaque.
Timothy and his son John Lewis Stanton established themselves in Rutherglen in 1864, after trying their luck during the gold rush and concluding that farming and supplying optimistic miners with fortified wines was a more lucrative endeavour. Jack Stanton built the winery in 1925, and it is a fascinating insight into the changing world of wine that every bottle he produced, as far as the 1960s, was fortified.
While reds are made today, the estate has built its international reputation on its fortified wines. This Trophy-winner is a blend of wines with an average age of 15 to 20 years, with the oldest including some of Jack Stanton’s 1970s casks. Treaclecoloured, endlessly figgy and rich with a dizzying 254 grams per litre of residual sugar, this is a gorgeously individual end-of-dinner drink.
Written by Decanter
