Taltarni Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

Drink now or cellar for 10 – 20 years.

The 2021 Vintage produced optimal growing conditions for the Pyrenees reds, the fruit exhibited intense flavours while maintaining a balanced structure. These growing conditions also allowed the fruit to be harvested at ideal stages, to get the best from the fruit.

Harvested from the initial block of Cabernet Sauvignon planted on the Taltarni estate in the late 1960s, this wine is crafted in the vineyard and so handled separately in the winery from its arrival. This wine shows the intensity in our old vines, great complexity, and quality, year in year out.

The fruit was harvested in the cool of the morning and crushed into a 3-tonne open top fermenter, 15% of the fruit was left as whole bunch. It was then inoculated and headed down to extract the natural tannin and intense fruit flavours. The ferment was managed over 8 days at moderate temperatures which resulted in a delicacy of the fruit and structure to be extracted.  Towards the end of ferment malolactic fermentation was initiated and then finished off in a combination of new and seasoned French oak barriques.

Pair with roast lamb and mint jelly.

Alcohol: 14%

pH: 3.63

Acidity (TA): 6.1 g/L

Pyrenees, Victoria.

96 Points & Gold Medal – 2024 Halliday Wine Companion

“This impressive medium wine blooms beautifully with air, with the flavour deepening and expanding the longer the wine is open. It has old-vine intensity and classical proportions, with pure cassis and just-ripe mulberry flavours. A robust cradle of tannin supports the elegant, sweet-natured palate, and although acidity underpins the fruit, it does not dominate the wine in any way. Excellent cellaring potential.” – Toni Paterson