The Old Vine Series was created to showcase the traditions of our winery and the elegance that can be attained from old vines in our Pyrenees vineyard. Taltarni was founded on these big, beautiful reds; they’re our pedigree.
Style: 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.
Tasting Notes: A full-bodied wine that is finely balanced, this wine reflects the low-yielding aged vines from which it was harvested. With rich red fruit flavours and varietal earthy tones, this wine lingers on the palate with soft round tannins.
Region: Pyrenees, Victoria, Australia
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon 100%
Winemaking: 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.
Wine Analysis: Acid: 6.6g/L | pH: 3.48 | Alcohol by volume: 14.5% | Residual Sugar: Dry | Harvested: April 2020 | Aging: 18 Months in French Oak barriques | Winemaker: Robert Heywood and Ben Howell
Food Match: Pair with roast lamb and mint jelly
Cellaring: Drink now or cellar for 10 – 20 years
Accolades:
Vintage 2020 Top Accolades
Vintage 2018 Top Accolades
“Crushed to 3 tonne open-top fermenter, 20% whole bunches, mlf and 18 months’ maturation in French oak (30% new). Harks back to some of the glorious cabernets of the 80s, with strong regional and varietal clarity, complexity and structure. Shows just how exciting the grape can be in a region dominated by shiraz. Densely coloured, with a roaming bouquet of dark plums, cassis, black cherries and subtle, spicy oak. Intense and concentrated, fine and long in tannic energy. Wow!”
Other Vintages:
Vintage 2017 Top Accolades
“An appealing, maturing bouquet reminiscent of blackcurrant jam, spice, plum pud and cedar, with a whisper of eucalypt. Medium-bodied, it’s rich in dark fruit with peaty overtones, ripe tannins in excellent balance, and good length. A generous wine of excellent regional style and gravitas Tasted, 28 JUN 2020. Drink 2020–2032.”
“Wine for later —- Hard to believe that Taltarni’s magnificent 2017 Old Vine Estate Cabernet Sauvignon – a wine that will comfortably slumber away in a cold, dark place for 20 years or more, developing greater depth and complexity – is $45 a bottle. It’s easily as good as many other cabernets two or three times the price.”
Vintage 2016 Top Accolades
Vintage 2015 Top Accolades
$50.00
Members pay $40.00Taltarni reserves the right to substitute wine vintages. Liquor purchase to Australian residents over the age of 18 years only.