Brown Brothers Patricia Cabernet Sauvignon 2017

There’s something about Patricia cabernet sauvignon that seems quite ageless. Consistency of quality comes into it, something which is easy to say but not always so easy to deliver. Named after the late family matriarch, Patricia Brown, a beautiful soul, I suspect that pride in the name also plays a big role. Whatever it is, the Patricia 2017 cabernet sauvignon – which was held back from release to afford the wine more bottle age – is a stunning wine. A wine of class, it arrives fully formed and in balance.

Plum, cassis, leafy bracken and earth, baking spices and dark chocolate aromas rise from the glass. With fruit from the King Valley, there is both ripeness (14.5% alcohol) and concentration of fruit across the palate. Varietally, it could not be anything else with its attractive leafiness. Structurally, it seems supple and almost pliable but it is anything but, possessing a quiet strength.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic