Stanton and Killeen Grand Rutherglen Topaque 18% 37.5cl Half Bottle

Description

Stanton and Killeen Grand Rutherglen Topaque has an average age of 15 to 20 years. Stanton and Killeen Classic Rutherglen Topaque has an average age of 12 years old.

Stanton and Killeen is a family-owned wine company located in the Rutherglen wine growing region of Australia. They are famous for their red wines and Port-style wines but are arguably most famous for the superb dessert wines they produce from Muscat and Topaque. Now in their seventh generation, the company can trace its origins back to 1850 when Timothy Stanton arrived in Australia from England in search of gold. He soon turned his attention to winemaking rather than prospecting. The two families came together when Norman Killeen married Jack Stanton’s daughter, Joan and in 1954 she gave birth to 6th generation winemaker Chris Killeen. In 1968 the business name was changed to ‘Stanton & Killeen Wines’ and thus started a new phase in the history of the winery. Today the business is owned and managed by mother-daughter team Wendy and Natasha Killeen and have around 86 acres of vineyards the oldest of which were planted in 1921. 

The Muscadelle grapes for the Stanton and Killeen Classic Rutherglen Topaque were picked late in the season when sugar levels are high and flavours have developed. They are then crushed and fermented on the skins for only one day. Fermentation is then stopped using high, strength, neutral grape spirit after which it is clarified and aged in large old oak barrels for 2 to 3 years. The wine begins maturation in large, very old, barrels that have been in the winery for over a hundred years. Select parcels are chosen for the this Classic NV blend which is the second tier of the Rutherglen Classification system. Some of the wine is aged in small old wood and some goes through a solera to achieve the correct taste and complexity that is the consistent Stanton and Killeen style.

The Muscadelle grapes for the Stanton and Killeen Grand Rutherglen Topaque are crushed and fermented on the skins for only one day. Fermentation is then stopped using high, strength, neutral grape spirit after which it is clarified and aged a modified solera system with only small amounts of wine “drawn off” per year for 2 to 3 years. Finally the parcels are blended and then returned to smaller oak ageing for further ageing, in this case between 15 and 20 years.

Stanton and Killeen are part of the Rutherglen Network, a group of 8 Rutherglen winemakers (along with All Saints, Bullers, Campbells, Chambers, Morris, Pfeiffer and Rutherglen Estates) who market and manage the promotion of (and ensure quality is maintained) the famous fortified wines of the region.