Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
"Must-try white Marsanne might be a Northern Rhône grape, but Tahbilk has the world's largest plantings (and oldest vines), dating to 1927. The Museum Releases are among Australia's best whites – and certainly best value for their sheer quality and ageability. This one is drinking beautifully but will cellar well for several years yet. Vibrant waxy citrus, ripe peach, jasmine and honey complexity features on a long, refreshing, textural palate."
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Museum Release Marsanne has a pale gold color and notes of salted almonds, straw, Marmite toast and lemon curd with a touch of apple pie. Light-bodied, lively, elegant and dry, it delivers a great intensity of savory toast and nut notes with a long, mineral and lemongrass-laced finish.
One of the star whites of the Rhône Valley and ubiquitous throughout southern France, historically vignerons have favored Marsanne for its hardy and productive vines. It can make a fruity and delicious single varietal wine as well as a serious, full-bodied version with amazing aging potential. The best examples of Marsanne come from the northern Rhone appellations where it is also blended with Roussanne. Sommelier Secret—Some of the oldest Marsanne vines in the entire world exist not in France but in Australia, in the Victoria region. Settlers planted it in the mid to late 1800s, calling it “white Hermitage.”
Nestled into the tip of its southeastern coastline, Victoria is Australia’s smallest mainland state, second most populous and third largest wine producer. Victoria includes the cool regions of Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and Geelong, made famous mainly by impressive Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
The more inland Heathcote and Bendigo lead the way for complex and textured, full-bodied reds. Rutherglen’s fortified wines compete among the best on the planet.