NV Chambers Rutherglen Rare Muscat 375ml

100 POINTS

Joe Czerwinski - Wine Enthusiast

Not a Cellar Selection in the traditional sense of requiring additional aging, this venerable wine (it contains some material over 100 years old) is ready to drink now, but should hold in the bottle indefinitely. It's dark coffee-brown, with delectable aromas of rancio, pressed flowers, molasses and honey, yet despite enormous concentration avoids excessive weight. Amazingly complex and fresh on the neverending finish.

100 POINTS

Joe Czerwinski - Wine Enthusiast

This wine contains some material over 100 years old, but shows no signs of fragility. Instead, it's concentrated through age and should hold in the bottle indefinitely. It's dark coffee-brown in color, with delectable aromas of rancio, dried fig, molasses and black tea, yet despite enormous concentration avoids excessive weight. And it's amazingly complex and fresh on the nearly endless finish.

99 POINTS

Christina Pickard - Wine Enthusiast

Made from vines dating back to the early 1900s and from a solera blending system that goes back to the 1890s, this is a fortified to fall head-first into. It envelops the senses with notes of walnut paste, praline, date, chocolate and a woodsy whisper. It glides across the tongue like satin but before it gets too cloying, the acidity takes hold like a buoy, the finish seemingly endless. This will live on and on, and except for a touch of heat from the alcohol, is everything you could hope for in an aged fortified wine.

99 POINTS

Christina Pickard - Wine Enthusiast

A rich, comforting coffee color with a slight green rim, Chambers's Rare Muscat is a national treasure, with vines over a century old and from a solera blending system that's even older. Like sinking into your favorite armchair at the end of a long day, it envelops the senses in a cloak of melted dark chocolate, hazelnut, milky coffee, toffee and the spine of an old library book. The palate is intensely concentrated, with a viscous texture that glides satin-like over the tongue. The alcohol is present but in check, and a remarkable freshness remains. Divinely indulgent, to be savored slowly on its own or drunk with a nutty dark chocolate dessert.

98 POINTS

Wine Spectator

Exuberantly spicy, with clove, cinnamon and cardamom accents weaving through the prune and tobacco aromatics. Very sweet but not at all cloying, as earthy, tarry notes give way to rich brown sugar and brandy flavors on the finish.

98 POINTS

Wine Spectator

A towering wine, dense in color and unctuously sweet, offering layers of toasted walnut, burnt orange peel, clove, coffee, dried cherry and spice flavors that come together smoothly and harmoniously on the rich finish.

98 POINTS

Joe Czerwinski - Wine Enthusiast

So concentrated and aged, this wine's color is nearly black, with a green-gold rim. Pronounced rancio notes reflect the wine's age, while the flavors include notes of candied dates, preserved lemons and hints of damp moss and earth. It's full, smooth and rich, with an intense finish that never ends. This wine should be virtually immortal.

98 POINTS

Christina Pickard - Wine Enthusiast

Made in a solera system from wine going back nearly 100 years and from vines even older, this wine is, just as you'd expect from the name, a rare beauty. Coffee-colored and green-tinged, the nose is a heady mix of drying black cherries, orange rind, old books, molasses, tea leaves and crunchy autumnal leaves. Sure, it's syrupy and unctuous in texture but it's not the least bit heavy or cloying. Instead, it rolls over your tongue, unleashing a multitude of complex flavors that seem to last a lifetime, just like this wine will.