Rutherglen

Rutherglen is a fortified wine grown in the hot, dry, continental climate of North Eastern Victoria in Australia. The soil is water-retaining deep red loam (see below).


The grapes used in the production of Rutherglen are Brown Muscat (a clone of the old world Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains which is found in the classic French Vins Doux Naturels) and so-called "Tokay" (Muscadelle).

Viticulturally, Rutherglen is unirrigated (water being scarce and so strictly controlled by the Australian authorities). The grapes shrivel, concentrating the sugar and allowing the grapes to achieve 20-22% potential abv without botrytis.

The wine is fortified to interrupt fermentation, in the traditional Port manner, leaving a minimum 160g/l sugar. Ageing takes place in a solera-like system. It is oxidative and evaporation takes place. Once bottled, Rutherglen does not develop further.

The 3 styles are Classic (which must be 5 years old); Grand (10 yo); and Rare (15 yo, but is usually much older). These categories also indicate increasing quality, concentration and sweetness.

(Sources: WSET materials, The Oxford Companion to Wine)

Fortified wine comparisons

The following is a comparison of some key features of Port, Sherry and Madeira.

Climate, topography and influences

Port - Hot continental, very dry. Serra do Marao shelters Douro. Sudden heavy rain and hail. Lack of water.

Sherry - Humid, despite low rainfall. Sunny and hot. Mediterranean. Levante/poniente winds.

Madeira - Humid, hot, subtropical, high rainfall.

Microclimates

Port - Cima Corgo best region. Also Baixo Corgo and Douro Superior.

Sherry - Sanlucar sea influence for ageing Manzanilla

Madeira - North/south split (north cooler - Sercial; south warmer - Bual)

Soils

Port - Schist, broken into terraces.

Sherry - Albariza (white, water-retaining, over 60% chalk). Also barros and arenas.

Madeira - Volcanic, fertile. Decomposed red or yellow tufa, with small round iron-rich basalt stones.

Grapes

Port - Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cao

Sherry - Palomino, PX, Moscatel

Madeira - Sercial, Verdelho, Bual, Malvasia (Malmsey), Tinta Negra Mole

Viti

Port - Guyot-pruned, wire-trained. Terraces. Hand-harvesting on socalcos (6,000 vines/ha); small tractors on patamares (3,500 vines/ha).

Sherry - Vara y Pulgar pruning (similar to Guyot). Bush or head-trained vines. Hand harvesting. High yields (max 80 hl/ha).

Madeira - Tiny plots, small terraces, access difficult, hand-harvested. Trellises. Levadas (irrigation).

Vini

Port - Rapid extraction, lagares (foot/mechanised), fortified early. Vinified in the Douro (but maturation in Villa Nova de Gaia, see below).

Sherry - Free run/press wine (fino/oloroso). Flor. Fortified late spring (i.e. about 9 months after harvest). Mitad y mitad. Solera, in one of the 3 towns. (For PX and Moscatel, raisins, fermentation stops naturally.)

Madeira - Sercial and Verdelho little/no skin contact, fermented until almost dry, then fortified. Boal and Malmsey - fermented on skins for max extraction, fortified early.

Fortification

Before fermentation - Moscatel de Valencia, Samos Doux (Muscat of Samos), Vins de Liqueur (e.g. Pineau des Charentes)

To interrupt fermentation - Port, Boal, Malmsey, VDNs, Samos VDN (Muscat of Samos), Fortified Cyprus Wine, Rutherglen (Victoria), Mavrodaphne of Patras

After fermentation - Sercial, Verdelho, PX, Moscatel, Sherry, Commandaria (Cyprus)

Not fortified - most Montilla-Moriles, Samos Nectar (Muscat of Samos)

Fortified to a:

- low level - Fino, Manzanilla, VDNs

- medium level - Port, good Oloroso and Amontillado (in sherry, ageing increases levels of VA)

- high level - everything else

Acidity

Port - high

Sherry - low (with ageing, can gain sufficient volatile acidity to get up to medium)

Madeira - high

Maturation and finishing

Port - Aged in Villa Nova de Gaia, although some quintas are building warehouses in the Douro - cheaper, easier access. Cask ageing vs bottle ageing. Some Ports are bottle-aged so are not finished before bottling and will throw a deposit (Vintage, Crusted, Traditional LBV); others are filtered and cold-stabilised before bottling (Tawny, LBV).

Sherry - Aged in solera system, the object of which is consistency of style. (The solera system was started in 2nd half of 19th century for commerial reasons - previously sherry was vintage-dated.)

Madeira - The estufa system is central to Madeira viniculture. By heating the wine with hot water pipes for 3-12 months (3-6 in cuba de calor; 6-12 in armezem de calor) the effects of a sea voyage through the tropics are simulated. Vintage Madeiras are aged in the Canteiro system, which uses the heat of the sun, for anything from 20 to 100 years! A small and decreasing amount of Madeira is aged in soleras - known as Solera Madeira, the date indicates the foundation of the solera.

Vintage variations

Port - Vintage Port varies, as does LBV. Crusted is a blend of years so will be more uniform. Colheita (vintage tawny) varies; other tawnies do not - esp Tawny with Indicated Age, where the age indication refers to a particular style. (Beneficio - output prescribed by law.)

Sherry - There is almost no vintage Sherry - the solera system blends out vintage variations (same in Montilla Moriles).

Madeira - Vintage and Colheita Madeiras vary; other styles aim for consistency.

Trade and Legal Structures

Port - Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Portugal (IVDP)

Sherry - Consejo Regulador Vinos de Jerez y Manzanilla (see website)

Madeira - Instituto do Vinho da Madeira (IVM)

Markets

Port - Portugal, US (now more than UK), UK, France (now more than UK, esp young tawny styles to drink chilled as aperitifs)

Sherry - Spain, UK, Netherlands

Madeira - UK, cooking wine

Principal Producers

Port

Normally labelled under the name of the shipper.

Symington Family Estates - Graham's, Warre's, Dow's, Quinta do Vesuvio, Smith Woodhouse, Martinez, Gould Campbell and Quarles Harris. See website.

Taylor's - independent family company - Quinta de Vargellas (produced first Single Quinta Vintage Port in 1958). See history and website.

Quinta do Noval - owned by AXA. See website.

Sherry

Gonzalez Byass - Tio Pepe Fino (GB website and TP history)

Vinicola Hidalgo - La Gitana Manzanilla, Napoleon range

Also Antonio Barbadillo, Pedro Domecq, Emilo Lustau and Sanchez Romate

Madeira

There are only 6 companies licensed for export:

Henriques & Henriques

Madeira Wine Company (Blandys, Cossart Gordon)

Also Justinhos, D'Oliveiras, Barbeito, HM Borges


White Grapes - Palomino, Muscat/Moscatel, PX, Malvasia, Sercial, Verdelho, Boal, Gouveio

Black Grapes - Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cao


Oxidised Wines - Oloroso, Madeira, Rancio-style Grenache-based VDNs (eg Banyuls Rancio), Rutherglen, Aged Tawny Port, Amontillado and Palo Cortado (although both start anaerobically)

Not Oxidised - Fino, Manzanilla, Ruby/Vintage Port, LBV, Muscat-based VDNs


Sources: WSET, The Oxford Companion to Wine

Sherry

Here are some essential sherry facts:

Location

Cadiz, Andalucia

Aged in bodegas in Jerez de la Frontera, Puerto de Santa Maria and Sanlucar de Barrameda (below)


Climate

Humid, despite low rainfall. Sunny and hot. Mediterranean.

Winds - from east (levante) hot, dry conditions; from west (poniente) cooler, more humid.

Soil

Albariza - white, water-retaining, over 60% chalk

Barros and Arenas soils are much less important, especailly in these days of reduced demand for sherry - many vines on these soils have now been grubbed up. However, Moscatel is grown in some arenas areas.

Grapes

Palomino, PX and Moscatel

Viticulture

Pruning - vara y pulgar (similar to Guyot)

Training - bush vine (en vaso) or head-pruned (trunk is trained into a knob at the top)

Yields - high - max 80hl/ha

Vinification

For Palomino, there are two distinct pathways - one for free-run juice and one for press wine. The below chart is a bit simplistic but the majority of the free-run juice will end up as fino and the majority of the press wine as oloroso-styles (i.e. matured without the influence of flor - see earlier post on flor). The relatively high fermentation temperature (28 C) is due to the fact that primary fruitiness and fermentation esters are not wanted.



For PX and Moscatel, the grapes are dried in the sun until they shrivel and become raisin-like. The high concentration of sugars means the fermentation stops naturally at about 5% abv, leaving 200-400g/l residual sugar. PX is fortified with mitad y mitad at around 54% abv and is aged oxidatively in a solera.

Styles

Fino - flor prevent the wine from oxidising; "salty", acetaldehyde nose and taste

Manzanilla - fino aged in Sanlucar de Barrameda - climate moderated by sea

Manzanilla Pasada - older than c.8 years - flor starts to die and wine oxidises

Pale Cream - fino sweetened with rectified, concentrated grape must (RCGM)

Amontillado Seco - aged first under flor (min 3 years), then oxidatively (usually by refortifying and moving to new solera, but sometimes by allowing flor to die away); "hazelnut" on palate

Blended Amontillado - sweetened using younger amontillados/fino/other

Palo Cortado - like Amontillado, aged first under flor then oxidatively; fuller-bodied; PC solera wine sometimes not under ullage

Oloroso Seco - aged oxidatively (without flor), sometimes for several decades; "walnut" on palate; although not aged under flor, may have some flor influence as flor forms on all sherry pre-fortification

Oloroso Dulce/Cream Sherry - sweetened oloroso (using PX or other)

PX and Moscatel - 15% abv, solera-aged

Trade/Legal

Bodegas de Crianza y Expedicion - shippng companies which dominate production, located in 3 main sherry towns (Jerez, Sanlucar, Puerto de Santa Maria)

VOS - average age at least 20 years old

VORS - 30 years

Also 12yo and 15yo

See also my post on fortified wine comparisons.

(Sources: WSET materials, The Oxford Companion to Wine)

Madeira

Grown in humid, subtropical heat, and on fertile, volcanic soils, Madeira's "noble" grape varieties are Sercial, Verdelho, Boal/Bual and Malvasia/Malmsey. The majority of Madeira is actually made from the inferior Tinta Negra Mole grape variety. See table below for comparisons.



The gradations in the site climate seen in the above table are mostly due to altitude.

Plots are typically tiny and on small terraces, so mechanisation is impossible. Trellises are used to raise the canopy off the ground and irrigation is via channels known as levadas.

There is a steady increase in residual sugar throughout the styles of Madeira. Sercial typically contains 1.5% residual sugar (NB NOT g/l), Verdelho 2.5%, Bual 3.5% and Malmsey has over 4%.

The diagrams below give an outline of ageing and styles of Madeira.

Above: Estufas

Above: Canteiro - Vintage Madeira maturing in
600L wooden casks, heated only by the sun

Sources: WSET, The Oxford Companion to Wine

See also my post on fortified wine comparisons and Jamie Goode's Spotlight on Madeira.