91/100 Halliday Wine Companion 2027

“Each Rutherglen fortified producer has a house style – one that reflects individual terroir, solera and winemaker style. There is always an elegance associated with Chris and Jen Pfeiffer’s Topaque and the Classic tier highlights its house style best with malt, honey biscuits, dried figs, toffee and walnuts that remain so alive and yet so complex to taste. Average age is 12–13 years, a time when richness and sweetness emerge as one, and when there is always the possibility of another wee glass.”

GOLD: Riverland Wine Show 2025
BRONZE: Victorian Wine Show 2025
BRONZE: Rutherglen Wine Show 2025
BRONZE: North East Victorian Wine Challenge 2025
BRONZE: Riverina Wine Show 2025

The 2023 growing season was one of the most challenging of the last decade, with above average winter and well above average spring rainfall falling. The well-publicised flooding through the Murray River system saw the river peak at Corowa at 8.07m on November 15th, causing severe flood damage to our Sunday Creek vineyard, and minor flood damage to our Carlyle vineyard. We lost access to the Sunday Creek vineyard from the 27th October to the 9th December, being unable to drive any vehicles or spray the vineyard during this critical time. Parts of the vineyard were completely underwater for weeks, with the vines dropping their leaves and fruit completely. Yields have been impacted accordingly, with certain blocks being 80-90% down, and other blocks 30-40% down.

The rain continued throughout December and January, until we finally received some respite from it, with no rain falling at all in February, just in the knick of time for the onset of harvest. Harvest started on the 1st March, with Rutherglen Chardonnay grapes, around 3 weeks later than usual. The harvest took some time to gain momentum, with scattered rain events and the cooler season causing many delays in picking. We started hitting our vintage straps towards the end of March and into April, with harvest finishing in the second week of May.

Quality is variable, which is indicative of the season, however there are always some gems in the cellar worth discovering. We are very pleased with the quality of the Chardonnay this vintage, it has been a real highlight, while the earlier picked parcels of Shiraz are looking very strong, as well as one outstanding parcel of Muscat, picked just before the Easter rain event.

The 2023 Pfeiffer Durif is sourced from three vineyards in Rutherglen. Each vineyard was picked at different times and therefore handled separately in the winery. Each parcel was given a cold maceration for 2 days prior to fermentation on skins at temperatures of 20-25°C for 10 days. Gentle pump overs occurred twice daily during fermentation, but only for short periods of time to avoid over extraction. Towards the end of fermentation, one parcel was transferred into new French and American oak hogsheads and puncheons to finish fermentation, and another parcel was left on skins post fermentation for 7 days to allow for further tannin polymerization and increased mouthfeel and depth of flavour.

The 2023 Pfeiffer Durif was matured in a combination of French and American oak of various size and age for approximately 15-18 months. The wine was then blended, fined and clarified prior to bottling in late December 2024.

Our 2023 Durif is an intense, dark purple-red colour and has lovely lifted aromas of black cherries, vanilla and spice.  The palate is rich and robust, with ripe plum and chocolate-y fruit on the mid-palate, and powerful tannins providing great length

Peppercorn-crusted rib eye steak, with Durif sauce and home-made chips