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In praise of a vintage mum

A winemaking dynasty raises a glass in memory of its tireless matriarch.

Jeni Port

Life's work: Brown family matriarch Patricia Brown.
Life's work: Brown family matriarch Patricia Brown.Supplied

Ten years ago, a small, frail woman in her 88th year was ushered into the Brown Brothers boardroom, where members of the board and the large Brown winemaking family had a plan to share with her.

John Graham Brown (all the Brown men with John as a first name - and there have been many - are called by their first two given names) says the idea was raised by his daughter Cynthia, the first woman to be born into the Brown family in 66 years.

''Mum,'' he said, ''we'd like to name a range of wines after you.''

Patricia Brown with son Roger.
Patricia Brown with son Roger.Supplied
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His mother stood still, then a tear started to rise. ''Well, boys, it better be bloody good,'' she said. John Graham Brown was momentarily gobsmacked - his mother never swore. But thus the Patricia range was born, devoted to ''bloody good wines'' with Patricia Brown's strong scrawl of a signature across the front label of every bottle.

Pat Brown and her husband, John Charles Brown, died within the year. The brand has notched up 10 years.

Not all of the first Patricia releases survived. The merlot lasted just a couple of vintages, destined to go the way of most Australian merlot, downgraded to second tier. There has also been the odd addition, the latest a deep-coloured 2010 sparkling rosé´ made from pinot meunier with a splash of malbec added for colour. Very tasty and an excellent aperitif, but I'm sure it will be mostly seen as a chicks' wine. The Patricia stalwarts remain: a vintage sparkling, a chardonnay, a shiraz, a cabernet sauvignon and a noble riesling.

The choice says much about the Browns. If they were interested in trendy, edgy wines, there would probably be no cabernet or noble dessert wine, but that would be missing the point. With Patricia, the makers are celebrating age-worthiness and quality. The current-release chardonnay is four years old, the cabernet and shiraz are five years. What's more, many wines are blends from a number of vineyards, not single vineyards, which is so much de rigueur these days. Compare the first Patricia cabernet release from the vintage 2000 to the latest offering from 2008. The colours are almost the same hue of a youthful red. The flavours near identical, the only real difference is the more pronounced herbal nature of 2000, as was the winemaking style 13 years ago. Cork can also hold its head high, having done justice to the bottle of 2000 that I tried. Screw cap under 2008 will do just as well, probably better.

Pat Brown's connection to wine was in marrying a Brown and raising four sons who all went to work in the winemaking family business: John Graham (the winemaker), Peter (the viticulturist), Ross (the marketer) and Roger (the horticulturist).

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She and her husband lived close to the winery, just a few steps from the Epicurean Centre restaurant (originally her orchard), and every day she made morning tea for her men, serving tomato or cheese on crackers. Morning tea in her kitchen was like a board meeting. Big family dinners with trifle for dessert brought the entire clan together at her table.

There was also the winery mail to open, the banking to do and flowers to prepare.

''For 20 years people would walk into the office and see fresh flowers,'' Ross Brown says. ''We don't have flowers in the office now. Sadly, it's something people just don't do any more.''

To celebrate a decade of Patricia, the boys - only John Graham and Ross are still with us - have cleaned up the old family cellar and reopened it. Photos of Pat Brown line the walk into the underground.

The Patricia range

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Pinot Noir Chardonnay Brut 2006: Whitlands fruit, five years on lees, aged beauty, citrus, yeast-derived nuttiness.

Chardonnay 2009: Blend of Whitlands/Yarra Valley fruit, youthful, composed, citrus, stone fruits, cashew, texture, bright acidity.

Cabernet Sauvignon 2008: Central Victoria/King Valley fruit, vanilla oak, dusty, thyme, blackberry, tight, highly structured.

Shiraz 2008: King Valley/Maryborough fruit, sweet charry oak, spiced black plums, liquorice, chocolate, warm, generous.

Noble Riesling 2008: Milawa fruit, old-gold colour, orange marmalade, rind, stewed quince, honeyed, floral, complex, enveloping, carries long.

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