By James Atkinson
Brown Brothers will release three award-winning wines from its Patricia range on tomorrow's St Patrick's Day, a significant date for the family-owned wine company.
The Patricia range of wines was launched in 2003 as a tribute to Brown Brothers' much-loved matriarch, Patricia Brown – who celebrated her birthday on St Patrick's Day – in recognition of her love and passion for the business.
To make the grade as a Brown Brothers Patricia, each wine is assessed alongside some of the best wines of their kind by a panel of wine professionals. They are only released from the very best vintages.
Brown Brothers will release the following wines as the new editions to the Patricia range on March 17:
- 2006 Patricia Pinot Noir & Chardonnay Brut
- 2008 Patricia Noble Riesling
- 2008 Patricia Shiraz (pictured)
Brown Brothers executive director, Ross Brown, said the release of the 2006 Patricia Pinot Noir & Chardonnay Brut truly showed the quality of the cool-climate methode champenoise wines produced from the single-vineyard site in Victoria's King Valley.
"The Whitlands vineyard, which sits at an altitude of 800m, is regularly compared to the sites of grand cru Champagne and with 36 months on lees, this wine shows great depth and complexity," he said.
The 2006 Patricia Pinot Noir & Chardonnay received the trophy for Best Traditional Method Sparkling and the trophy for Wine of Show at the 2011 Australian Sparkling Wine Show.
The release of the 2008 Patricia Noble Riesling celebrates 50 years since the first vintage of this style of wine in Australia. John Charles Brown was the first to sight botrytis (Noble Rot) in a vineyard in the country and in 1962 made his first wine from these grapes grown in Milawa. Sourced from this original site, this wine has won over 10 gold medals in the domestic show circuit and six trophies.
The 2008 Patricia Shiraz received a gold medal at the 2011 Royal Hobart Wine Show, and shows the exceptional quality of all-Victorian fruit. The three newly released wines are complemented by the 2008 Patricia Chardonnay and the 2006 Patricia Cabernet Sauvignon which were released last year.