Mission Accomplished. Taltarni – A Great Wine Estate in the Pyrenees.

It was 1972. After two years of wandering the globe in search of a vineyard site, brothers Bernard and Dominique Portet found themselves talking to John Robb about buying 1,000 acres of unplanted land. Their explorations had taken them to Israel, Chile, Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand, and finally to Australia before they settled on the Pyrenees district of Victoria. Unable to find a single block of requisite size, the Portets discovered Taltarni, a property of some 1600 acres, 100 acres of which had already been planted to vines by a group of Ballarat businessmen. The businessmen were running short of funds, but the Portets were backed by New York investor and philanthropist, John Goelet. The sale went through and the rest, you might say, is history.

Goelet had earlier established the well-known Napa Valley brand of Clos du Val under the elder Portet, Bernard. Although Taltarni is now closely linked to the junior Portet, Dominique, its first vineyard manager under the ‘new’ ownership was David Hohnen, who has since fashioned an international reputation on the opposite side of the continent at Cape Mentelle. In rather rudimentary conditions Hohnen made the property’s first, but unreleased vintage in 1976.

Later that year Dominique Portet replaced Hohnen, whose project at Margaret River was demanding more of his attention. Portet commenced building the winery in time for the 1977 vintage, the property’s first commercial release, whose powerful, tannic wines were greeted with rapturous attention in 1979. But Taltarni’s acceptance was never universal. Its wines were too tannic for some, too minty and regional for others, or else considered too slow to mature. Only today, some twenty-one years after its making, has the 1977 Cabernet Sauvignon actually begun to settle back into some genuine approachability!

Today Taltarni is on the verge of realising the ambitions of those whose commitment to its large and single estate lasted well into its third decade. With twenty vintages in bottle, Taltarni can now present a range of mature, complex, and classically proportioned red wines. And if they’re never going to be easy-drinking styles, they’re now supple and undemanding enough to be appreciated without qualification by those who consider themselves to take cabernet, merlot and shiraz seriously. Furthermore, after refining his style without any compromise to its integrity, Dominique Portet can boast a collection of reds from 1995 and 1996 which are suitable for opening now or for any time for at least the next two decades.

Early Days and a Vision of Bordeaux

Taltarni’s story is really about the connection of a man’s vision with his environment. From 1955 to 1975 Portet’s father, Andre, was technical director at one of the world’s most illustrious red wine properties, Chateau Lafite. He instilled in his sons an unyielding respect for cabernet sauvignon and a focus towards the wines of Bordeaux. Dominique’s programming to become a maker red of cabernet, merlot and family included degrees in oenology and viticulture from Montpellier and work in wineries in both France and America. Even to this day his staff say there’s absolutely no point in asking him to share with them a bottle of pinot noir. Dominique Portet has assembled two decades in bottle of some of Australia’s most classical, yet individual cabernet sauvignon, by doing things his own way.

Challenged to find a site whose qualities of climate and soil had as much in common with Bordeaux as could reasonably be expected, the Portets were excited about the mild, consistent Pyrenees climate and Taltarni’s well-drained shale and quartz topsoils laid over a clay base. ‘Taltarni is a magnificent site’, says Dominique. ‘It’s very unique because it’s protected from the north wind, its altitude keeps it cool at night and it can make a range of wines from the same vineyard, largely because of its variation in soil types. Over the last twenty years we’ve learned where to plant certain varieties. We haven’t had any bad years, only one difficult year, being 1980. Yet a magnum of that year’s cabernet recently fetched Please login to post comment