IDEA..

[Con J]

Hi Sam and Guys.

I recently picked up 3 months of auction buys with some very interesting wine. Some labels and vintages I’ve never seen before.

Most of us usually throw away most empty bottles so label and bottle gone. I thought how good it would be to have some kind of a wine library for Australian wine labels and bottles. I personally love the information on the labels like alcohol, varieties, blends, vineyard, winemaker notes, glass colour and so on.

IDEA..

The “The World’s Fine Spirits” doesn’t see much traffic so maybe change this to the “Australian Wine Label and Bottle Library”

Each new topic would be a winery then post relevant photos and notes. I’m sure we all have empty trophy bottles and there’s a few here that have and drink old wine. It’s not about cock swinging and value because most of the interesting labels come from very modest labels.

Thought would be appreciated, Cheers Con.

[Con J]

Like these.

[Con J]

Like this one.

I’ve got 3 or 4 of these but the label is different to this one.

Cheers Con.

[JamieAdelaide]

I had one of those in Hong Kong. Bottled in 1983. Very good!

[Con J]

I had one of those in Hong Kong. Bottled in 1983. Very good!

Yes an amazing Muscat.

Yeah I’m assuming this might be the first release. I’m pretty sure the other bottles don’t have a release date on the label just series three.

Cheers Con.

[phillisc]

Cock swinging...that's a new one
Had about 4 dozen 70s/80s SA wines, with sadly a number gone now...Basedows, 'old' Krondorf, Hungerford Hill, Kaiser Stuhl, Tollana, Seaview..think they went in the skip when moving house. Good idea for a thread

Cheers Craig

[JamieAdelaide]

. Hello Jamie,
Wow , that would be a very rare and unusual wine to find and enjoy.
Is it one that you have had in your cellar for a long time ?
A lot will depend upon the condition of the cork and cellaring conditions as to how it will present.
I am presuming it is a 750 ml bottle with our old sailing ship label - the cutter "The Merchant Prince" on which John Campbell sailed to Australia, to find gold and ultimately found Campbells Wines in Rutherglen.

We stopped declaring the year of bottling quite some time ago, as our Muscats are a complex blend of multiple years stocks.
As such they are aged in the winery in large old oak casks, slowly evaporating, concentrating the flavours and being topped with younger fresher material as needed.
Our current method of maturing the Merchant Prince uses a traditional solera method to age and fractional blend younger wines with older stock.
The average age of the bottled product is thus about 50 years old.
I have attached the tasting notes for this current product.

I no longer have any records of the production of Muscats from the 1980s.
However, the style and classification system were still being developed by Colin Campbell.
Other examples of early Merchant Prince I have seen, tasted and tested are of a lower baume (less sweet) with less aged characters.
If the cork is in good condition, your bottle may still be drinking well. However please understand that these wines have been fully matured and aged in the winery, in cask.
They are designed for drinking once bottled, and won't necessarily improve with further bottle age.
They shouldn't diminish either, but this is all cork dependent.

Also once opened, they will last for longer than a normal table wine - up to a month - without losing their character.

We have plenty more information on Rutherglen Muscats on our website, campbellswines.com.au

Hope you still have a lovely wine dinner.

Kind regards

Ian



Ian Diver
Winery Operations Manager
Campbells Wines





(02) 6033 6000

[BHCC1]

Good idea Con although it would be helpful for Luddites like me if there were instructions available on how best to post photos. I have a few in mind including the 1954 Tulloch Private Bin which famously won both the Claret and Burgundy classes at the Sydney show.