Flotsam
Flotsam is random stuff washed up on shore, and this page is not about one particular issue or idea, it can be anything. Mostly it will be wine related, but it doesn't have to be. I'm sure there will be something of interest, be it a new release wine, a visit to a wine region, or just different ideas from different people. Feel free to comment at the bottom, and join the conversation.
30 July 2009The Great Topaque debate...is over Well it's official. While all of the serious 'behind the scenes' political issues have been taken care of, it makes it all the more definite when it is finally on the shelves. I am referring to 'Topaque', the new name for one of Australia's truly unique wine styles, our Rutherglen Tokay. I completely understand the legality of the issue, and if I were the Hungarians, I wouldn't want people using my town's name either, but it is the new word that has been chosen to replace it that I take issue with. I can't think of another word that would conjure a less relative sound to refer to the luscious, slippery and totally delicious wines made in Rutherglen out of the Muscadelle (and occasionally some other) grapes.
I adore these types of wine and it saddens me to think that new generations of wine drinkers are not being exposed to them, so where possible I make sure that there are Aussie fortifieds on wine lists and I use them in my wine courses too, as once tried they are rarely forgotten. That amazing enticing flavour and texture coupled with complexity and price point make them something that all Australian households should have in the cupboard, right next to the (dare I say it) 'VB' (I'm sorry).
Australia has very few truly unique wines, as most of what we produce is a replica of Burgundy in our Pinots, Bordeaux with our Cabernets and Champagne with our Sparkling, I could go on but you get the idea. However in a small border town in northern Victoria, we make wine out of Muscadelle and Muscat grapes the likes of which are not seen anywhere else in the world, and if they are, Rutherglen is indeed the template from which the others are guided.
I must say that I am a big believer in Shakespeare's sentiment that "a rose by another name would smell as sweet", but the word Topaque really gets under my skin. I know it won't take the fun from these wines, I know that their enticing flavours, smells and delicious complexity will be as wonderful as ever, but every time I say Topaque, a strange, half scowl, half wrinkle, followed by a small shake of my head displays on my face and a little part of me dies.
So with one hand I raise a thumb to these stunning wines from Rutherglen, and with the other, supported by a weird facial twitch and a head shake I thrust my opposing thumb downward, and ponder the real problem with this issue...why didn't anyone ask me?!
The first on the market. Pfeiffers Topaque.
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