Chambers Rosewood Vineyards Rutherglen Muscadelle NV (non-vintage) is a Tokay style dessert wine made in Rutherglen, Australia and is 18.5%abv. It has a rather unique deep orange color that is very attractive and a nice medium/heavy body. The aroma is mild with hints of mollasses and a faint touch that I haven't noticed in other dessert wines of a nice, winy soy sauce. The taste is that of molasses and black tea brewed with slightly bitter rose petals, followed by rich buckwheat honey, and again that hint of soy sauce. It's a very nice combination of flavors. I found it locally for $17 for a 375 ml. bottle.

It is made with a blend of six to ten-year-old Muscadelle wines. This is a mildly fortified wine with the fermentation process being halted early with the addition of small amounts of neutral spirits and then the wine is aged in wooden casks in the solera. The solera style is a wine making method used in the production of Spanish sherry where some of the old wines are drawn off for bottling and then the rest are topped up by wines from the next oldest level and so on.

The wine makers say that the wine will keep for months if sealed and while I know it won't last that long in my house, it has lasted for several weeks with me partaking of a small glass every now and then as the whim strikes.

The award winning Chambers Winery has been a family owned and run business since it was started in 1858. The wine making and care of the "old material" (solera style aged wines) have been handed down from father to son through five generations, and for the last 40 years have rested with Bill Chambers.

As I mentioned the other day when I reviewed the Chambers Muscat, don't get the names Muscat and Muscadelle mixed up due to the similar names. They are different grapes with their own unique flavor profiles. The Muscadelle tends to have molasses and tea flavors and the Muscat has a more floral aroma and honey and caramel flavors.