The back label continues with its 'longevity for up to 10 years' statement, despite the fact that the wine is likely to mature (well) for a whole lot longer than that. Might be time for a tweak. In any case, the wine is flush with blackberry and dark chocolate, rich earth and mint-like characters. A dab of viognier adds floral lift. Grainy tannin rumbles through the back half. It's a wine with a lot in its favour.
Awards and Accolades
95 Points - James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion "An 88/6/5/1% blend of shiraz, mourvedre, cabernet and viognier matured in new and used French oak. The bouquet has elusive hints of sandalwood and polished black leather, the medium to full-bodied palate bringing the complex array of fruit flavours onto centre stage, blackberry foremost, but with a swirl of activity behind it. Top vintage, top result."
93 Points - Campbell Mattinson, Wine Front "Striking cabernet sauvignon out of the Pyrenees wine region of north-west Victoria. Interesting use of the word “complimented” on the back label. It’s unmistakably varietal yet it’s also bold with fruit. Blackcurrant and blackberry, briar-bush, tobacco and gum leaf. Not too much gum leaf, thankfully, but enough to add lift to the wine. What most characterises this wine though are its tannin; they’re robust, rugged, integrated but substantial. It’s a muscular cabernet. And a very good one."
From the Winery
This wine is harvested exclusively from the initial block of shiraz planted on the estate in the early 1970s. The fruit was placed into small batch open-top fermenters as whole berries and then submerged, giving a richness and complexity that translates into a silky and balanced wine. A natural ferment, which was managed over a couple of weeks at low temperatures, maintained the delicacy and concentration of the old-vine fruit.
Showing elegance and balance, this wine has layer upon layer of flavours that are complemented by rich red fruit and spicy aromatics. The palate is medium in weight, with succulence and seamless silky tannins that linger long after the wine.
Taltarni and Victoria's Pyrenees region is renowned for its Shiraz. Its no wonder as this wine has it all. Intensity complexity and great length on the palate. Will cellar wonderfully for the medium to long term, but is a blackcurrant beauty when young.
Technicals
Acid: 6.9 g/l pH: 3.48 Alcohol by volume: 14.6 %v/v Residual Sugar: Dry Aging: 18 months in French Oak barriques
