McWilliam's Hanwood Classic Muscat NV (6 x 750mL), SE AUS.

Winery Tasting Notes

This aged multi-vineyard Muscat is made from Red Frontignac and blended to an average age of five years. The fruit, picked extremely ripe to maintain the sweetness of the style, is sourced entirely from McWilliam’s vineyards in the Riverina wine region in New South Wales.

The fruit is harvested at a minimum 14° baumé, crushed into open fermenters, and then partially fermented on skins for between seven and ten days to extract maximum colour and flavour. Fermentation is arrested at the desired sweetness by the gradual addition of a high quality neutral spirit, which is also made at McWilliam’s Hanwood winery, near Griffith in New South Wales. This gradual fortification of around two per cent alcohol per addition helps control fermentation and ensures seamless wine and fortification integration.

To control the development of aged rancio characters – and to keep the flavours fresh and balanced – this Muscat was matured in larger oak barrels than those used for our tawny ports. These barrels are more than ten years old. This allows the wine to slowly develop complexity without obvious oak flavours and characters. The final blend is then cold stabilised and filtered prior to bottling.

This supple, sweet wine appeals to non-fortified wine drinkers because of its fresh fruit flavours. It is a lovely rich red/amber in colour. Floral rose petal notes and fruit characters are obvious on the nose. The palate offers smooth and rich Frontignac characters and concentrated raisins, showing considerable lusciousness from both retained sweetness and fruit intensity.