Red Muscadel

This wine has been made using a centuries-old process of fortifying grape juice in order to produce a dessert-style wine. Grapes are harvested at high sugar levels, pressed and the juice fortified with neutral grape spirit. This addition preserves the natural flavours of the juice while ensuring that no fermentation can take place in the wine, also preserving the natural sugar from the grape juice.

The 2019 vintage was a challenging one for the Rustenberg team. While the winter of 2018 was a welcome break from the previous four winters of drought, most vineyards had not fully recovered and produced below average yields. A warm snap in June and a wet Spring, coupled with a wetter than average Summer harvesting season made 2019 a challenge, with some late harvest thinning or multiple harvests of the same vineyard required to achieve uniformity. Early and mid-season ripening varieties performed well, all achieving flavour ripeness at lower alcohol levels, while late ripening varieties required patience and extended time on the vines, again achieving lower alcohols overall, but creating ripe, structured wines.

This very stable sweet wine has the ability to be aged further under ideal cellaring conditions and it will become richer and more concentrated over time.