Taylors Wines has announced the official vintage releases of its pinnacle Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz wines - The Visionary 2014 and The Pioneer 2014.
The wines are crafted only during exceptional vintages, utilising a selection of the finest fruit available on the family’s Estate property in the Clare Valley.
“2014 in the Clare Valley will go down as a vintage from heaven, the most difficult decision was the precise moment to pick the fruit,” winemaker and Managing Director Mitchell Taylor said.
“Wines from the 2014 vintage are shaping up to be some of our best releases yet, proving themselves at both domestic and international award shows. They are a bold contrast to wines from the previous vintage and show an increased level of finesse and elegant complexity, typical of a cooler vintage.
“It's exciting to see how these wines have evolved over time, and on behalf of our family, I’m extremely proud to release these wines to the world.”
The fifth release of Taylors Wines The Visionary Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 honours Bill Taylor Snr. and his founding ambition to craft a world-class wine inspired by the great wines of the Old World, using the exceptional fruit of the Clare Valley.
“My grandfather had a vision to craft a great wine that could rival the famous wines of Bordeaux," Taylor (above) said. "To achieve this goal, he knew he would need the perfect plot of land with the ideal climate. When he landed in the Clare Valley, he quickly discovered its potential to grow exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon.”
In 2018, The Visionary 2014 was crowned ‘World’s Best Cabernet’ at the Concours International des Cabernet, a major competition held in the birthplace of the famed variety, France, and judged by the country’s leading sommeliers.
“It was surreal - the wine we crafted to stand up against some of the best in the world going on to take the title for World’s Best Cabernet in the place where our family journey began,” Taylor said.
The series of blocks earmarked for this wine include the A70 and ‘Edwina’ E20 blocks from the St Andrews vineyard, the latter being a young, but very exciting parcel on the Taylors property. This wine also includes parcels from the W10 block, which are some of the oldest blocks located on the Wakefield River flats.
Taylors The Pioneer 2014 showcases the powerful elegance of Shiraz. When founding the original Taylor family vineyard in 1969, second-generation Bill Taylor had the astute foresight to recognise the emerging popularity of Shiraz. While the original plan was to plant the vineyard predominantly with Cabernet Sauvignon, but Bill insisted a small portion be allocated to Shiraz. His determination to do things differently paid off, as the emergence of Australian Shiraz took hold around the world.
The fruit for this wine was sourced from some of the oldest Shiraz blocks on the Estate property, including A30, also known as GOD, and the family’s original 80 Acres and S50 blocks. In good years, the winemaking team notes that these blocks bring depth, varietal concentration and texture to low yielding fruit of small berry size.
As detailed as the wine itself, The Visionary and The Pioneer’s packaging showcases the great care taken by the winemaking team to craft these exceptional wines. The label stock is specially sourced from an Italian mill founded in 1717, lending to the wine’s pedigree and heritage. This stock features as a dust jacket across the accompanying vintage booklet, as well as the front label. Each carries a large blind sculpted emboss of the Taylors Wines seahorse crest. Each bottle is hand-labelled and hand-numbered before being placed in a bespoke gift box lined in black linen. The packaging design is complete with an outer sleeve featuring a large laser die-cut Taylors Wines seahorse crest.
Taylors Wines The Visionary Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 and The Pioneer 2014 are now available from select fine wine retailers for RRP $200.
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