Description
The Patron is the hero of the Taltarni range, representing the epitome of the estate’s quality in terms of both vineyard and winemaking.
Blended from specially selected sites of both Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz at the Estate’s vineyard in the picturesque Pyrenees, this wine is scrupulously handcrafted to truly express not only the local terroir but also the absolute spirit of that which is Taltarni.
The vines are meticulously tended in the quest for perfection; including a green harvest at verasion reducing the yield to 1 tonne per acre in order to truly represent our vineyard terroir. The cool nights and warm days of the Pyrenees provide the ideal conditions to allow slow ripening of the fruit.
This wine represents the epitome of the Estate’s quality in terms of both vineyard and winemaking. It has structure and finesse along with drive and concentration and is the true essence of Taltarni Vineyards.
The nose displays ripe red forest fruit accompanied by subtle notes of toasted oak and cigar box. This is then transferred seamlessly through to the palate that delivers the power and concentration expected of a wine of this calibre with great silky textural phenolics and great restraint.
Cabernet Sauvignon 54%, Shiraz 46%
The 2017 growing season received low rainfall, which was ideal for the ripening of the two components of this blend.
Harvesting each variety separately almost 3 weeks apart is hard to manage when you want to co-ferment, but we are lucky enough to be able to send the shiraz that ripened 3 weeks earlier to cold storage. When the cabernet sauvignon is ready to harvest, we bring the shiraz out of cold storage and destem the two together into the same tank. Cold maceration then takes place for 3 days while the grapes warm and initiate fermentation naturally. We then complete alcoholic fermentation over the next 12 days and maintain on skins for a further 4 weeks. This allows lovely soft supple tannin extraction and polymerization and a unique flavour profile only produced by the co-fermentation of the two varieties which is very distinctive as it would not exhibit the same result by blending wine the conventional way.
The wine is then pressed into barrel and undergoes malolactic fermentation in 60% new French oak. It is left to age for another 22 months in those barrels to deliver a wine showing elegance and power and a true representation of the terroir of Taltarni.
Wine Analysis: Acid: 6.5g/L | pH: 3.53 | Alcohol by volume: 13.4% | Residual Sugar: Dry | Harvested: April 2017 | Aging: 24 Months in French Oak barriques, 60% new | Winemaker: Robert Heywood
Drink now or cellar for 10 – 20 years.
Accolades:
Rated # 4 out 29 Victorian Cabernets & 96 Points – Huon Hooke in The Real Review
“Very deep and youthful purple/red colour. The bouquet is reserved and of medium intensity, black fruits and tar with an overly of toasted nuts and cedar. There’s tremendous intensity and richness here, concentrated flavour with flesh and amplitude—a big wine that floats effortlessly across the palate with abundant but caressing tannins. Long-term potential. Tasted 20 FEB 2022. Drink 2022–2037.
95 Points & Outstanding – 2022 Halliday Wine Companion
“In the Taltarni scheme of things, this Reserve Shiraz Cabernet can look forward to a long life ahead, yet even in its youth it shows its class. This is not a showy wine, but an elegant look at the classic Aussie red, albeit with a mass of beaut, concentrated flavour. Shiraz takes the lead here, all sweet blackberries, anise and plum, with a raft of woodsy spice. The palate lays out charming florals, dark chocolate and a long thread of dried herbs, all swept along by fine-cut, silky tannins.”
Gold Medal – 2018 Royal Adelaide Wine Show
95 Points – 2020 Halliday Wine Companion
