Taltarni do not make wines for the faint-hearted. These are big, bold and dense wines that often age well for decades thanks to a combination of powerful flavour and rich structure. With that kind of pedigree it is about time that Taltarni have released an icon – a wine to challenge the best from Central Victoria. But these are not flash, fruity wines – they are on the darker and more intriguing end of the spectrum, and built to last.

This is the inaugural vintage of The Patron and it is a big wine, with immaculate structure. It is a bright, deep ruby colour and has explosive, brooding fruit. There is boysenberry, blackberry and blackcurrant fruit that is powerful and dense, still very primary and youthful, that is matched well with significant oak. It is then full-bodied, dry and ripe on the palate – the fruit well intertwined with mouth coating tannins. The wine is also settled – fruit and structure in balance and set for the long haul, during which time it will slowly come out of its shell to provide serious drinking pleasure.