You have to take notice when a wine wins a gold medal at every national wine show. Sadly, there are now so many shows now that few wines are so prolifically gonged.But back in 1975 Bill Taylor’s first vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon, a 1973, won gold at all the national shows.The wine itself was a great idea. It was inspired by a 1966 Mouton Rothschild, which in that year featured Belgium artist Pierre Alechinsky on the label. In 1969 Bill, the grandfather of the current MD Mitchell Taylor, planted the first vines into the terra rossa “red loam over limestone” in the Clare Valley in South Australia.In 1973 the first vintage was picked while over in Bordeaux, a chap called Pablo Picasso was featured on the Mouton Rothschild. The rest is history and Taylors had it’s own work of art for sale at $2.75.Thirty years later Taylors makes the best selling cabinet sauvignon over $15 in Australia.The interesting thing is the evolution of the wine making. In the early days the grapes were picked with lower sugar content than today. They were far closer to their French cousins in taste. The 1973 is great, as is the 1974. The colour has mellowed and it drinks well.But fast forward to the 1980s and Taylors was picking with more sugar in the grapes.Pow! The taste hits you square between the eyes. Boof! All those earthy tannins and eucalyptus, minty flavours that are so loved in the big Aussie cab savs. Splat! I missed the spittoon.Oui, Oui! Coming from Europe my taste migrates to wines that of the French style. Saying, that I am a contradiction. During a five-year stint in Sydney cab sav became my cordial.Slurp! As I once again sucked the dark red and that wonderful minty flavour took me on a journey back in time. (No, I’m not going to wank on about Proust. Phew!)Taylors remains a family owned company. MD Mitchell Taylor, whose father Bill is still going strong, says that it’s reassuring that every six months one of the big boys asks him if h’s ready to be swallowed up. He’s not.The company is concentrating on what it does best. And as a family company it doesn’t stand still. Sure, it’s had its ups and downs with the weather cycles.Compare the star 1998 with the drought-hit 2000 naked in the glass and most tasters choose the former. But dress the 2000 up with some food and it becomes a much better drop.And this is the complication on wine tasting. The temperature, environment and even food do affect it.Taylors offers other great comparisons. Its estate 2001 and 2002 were bottled with a cork and a screw cap. The difference in taste made me want to throw away my Laguiole. The cork wine didn’t keep as well. It was duller while the screw capped wines were much more intense and flavoursome.In Australia Taylors is available pretty anywhere. The company also wants to export much more. In the UK you won’t find it in any supermarkets but you can pick it up from good wine shops like Oddbins or Threshers. And it’s available across the US in small quantities at $15 a bottle. Look out for it. Drink!
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