Early this month I attended a vertical of the iconic Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon. The first seven wines were double decanted approximately three hours prior to the meeting; the rest were opened at the beginning of the meeting and poured through Cantina wine filters. I'm almost certain the colour descriptions in my tasting notes are a little off because of the very poor lighting in the tasting room, which would have resulted in browner shades than expected (see below).
FLIGHT 1:
2010 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (screwcap): 13.5% alc. Medium to dark red/purple. Bright nose and palate of blueberries, cherries and bath salts, lifted and a little minty at times, some cedar oak and touches of herbs in the background. It's a pretty wine and well balanced but also much lighter as I was expecting, with a chalky texture and bright acidity mid-palate, black olive and grippy tannins on the finish. It's hard to see many similarities between this wine and the blockbusters of the nineties when they were released; will it go the distance?
2005 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (screwcap): 14.0% alc. Medium to very dark crimson/garnet. Already quite savoury and a lot more advanced than I was expecting, dusty with cassis camphor wood, tobacco, molten liquorice and herbs; the palate's sweeter with black liquorice and ribena/blackcurrant, tobacco and cigar box, finishing minty. The 2005 vintage was a very ripe one for Wynns, and while this has the scale I expect for a John Riddoch it's developing too fast for my liking on this showing.
2003 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 13.5% alc. Medium to dark garnet/brick. A fast developer, the nose opening with cedar, caramel, cassis, sweet tobacco and camphor, some game with breathing; in comparison to the bouquet the palate more sour, soupy and slightly stocky, slightly green with capsicum and course tannins on the finish. This vintage was a notably lighter and savoury, slightly gamey wine when it was first released, so how it looks now wasn't a huge surprise; it's a pleasant enough drink, but it has already peaked and will never be brilliant.
FLIGHT 2:
1999 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 13.5% alc. Medium to very dark garnet. Very restrained nose at first, some cedar/banana oak, pretty blackcurrant and sweet spices appear, some sandshoe rubber with breathing; the palate's tart, soupy and spicy, the weight of the blueberry fruit not quite matching the massive, chalky tannins and sweet/spicy oak on the finish. A sulky wine in this flight, it didn't have the same weight and balance of the 1996 & 1998 vintages, or the outrageous oak of the 1997 - a guest at the tasting from another Coonawarra winery thought it was slightly corked.
1998 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 13.5% alc. Medium to very dark crimson. The first wine tonight to show what I call typical, thunderous Riddoch fruit & oak characters on the nose, very inky with capsicum, coal, cedar and cassis, dried blood, ground paprika, peppermint and tomato leaf, becoming slightly meaty/soupy with breathing. The palate's just as spicy, lots of peppermint, cumin, paprika and blackcurrant on the fat mid-palate, finishing long, dry and chalky, the oak seemingly less obvious. On this form it has slightly overtaken the 1996 vintage in the development stakes, but overall remains an impressive wine made for the long haul.
1997 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 13.5% alc. Medium to very dark garnet/brick. Very green, very leafy and very oaky on both the nose and palate, coffee and molten caramel, liquorice and tar, mulberry and sarsaparilla; there's a distinct lack of fruit on the palate to match the coffee oak or bitter green tannins that dominate the finish. This will never be a great wine, it probably never was to begin with.
1996 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 13.0% alc. Medium to very dark red. Dark, inky, dusty and perfumed, letting out little whiffs of coal and blackcurrant, blueberry and castor sugar, but overall it's rather closed and austere; the palate's massive, tarry, chalky and perfectly balanced, jubey and earthy, coal and blackcurrant, finishing extremely long with clean acidity and gravelly tannins. A blockbuster vintage that will probably outlive everything in the room, and I do mean everything!
FLIGHT 3:
1994 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 13.5% alc. Medium to very dark red. Like the impressive colour the nose initially promises great things, dusty and jubey with blueberry, blackcurrant, tomato leaf and sweet cedar oak, although with breathing that oak becomes dominant, malty and very coarse. The palate isn't as big or as well balanced as the 1996 vintage, from the start the oak is far more prominent leading to a massive mid-palate hole, finishing dry and minty. A classic 1994 in many ways; it's powerful but not fleshy, impressive on it's own but it doesn't quite measure up to the truly great vintages.
1993 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 13.5% alc. Medium to almost very dark garnet. Very spicy and a little inky, cedar, cassis, molten caramel, peppermint, ground paprika, iodine and pencil notes; the palate's on the lighter side for John Riddoch, meaty/soupy and more towards medium-weight, but it's also well balanced with a fat mid-palate and a sweet, long finish with lacy tannins. This vintage is very enjoyable right now; there's no need to wait any longer, it's ready to go.
1992 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 13.5% alc. Medium to dark garnet. Very similar to the 1993 vintage on the bouquet, spicy and inky, cedar, cassis, peppermint and ground paprika, although there's also a little sandshoe rubber with breathing; the palate's very dry and dusty, badly lacking fruit and with a scalped finish. Clearly a problem here, this was nothing like a superb bottle four years ago; the panel discussed whether it was oxidised or corked, I suspect it's the latter.
FLIGHT 4:
1991 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 13.5% alc. Medium to almost dark red/garnet. Inky and spicy nose, cedar and cassis, peppermint, ground paprika and pencil notes; the palate's fat and beautifully balanced, not quite as big as the 1990 in scale, a little cooler in style and the oak a little more obvious, but the end result is still an outstanding wine with a silky mouthfeel and outstanding length.
1990 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 13.5% alc. Medium to dark red/garnet. Opens seemingly riper than the surrounding vintages with dark chocolate, coffee, blackcurrant, peppermint and heavily charred oak; the entry of the palate is huge, dense and chocolatey, the finish long with velvety tannins, but with breathing there's also a slightly damp/wet wood character that becomes far more noticeable. By the end, as enjoyable as this wine was, I thought it was a slightly flawed bottle.
1988 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 12.3% alc. Medium to almost dark garnet/brick. Developed but beautiful nose of creme de cacao and creme de cassis, old leather, game meats, caramel and cedar; the palate's only medium-weight compared to the blockbuster 1990 & 1990 vintages, but still has a lovely balance of sweet and spicy fruit and oak, finishing slender and slightly dry. This wasn't close to the best bottle of this vintage I have tried, but it was still a great drink.
1987 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 12.9% alc. Medium-ish garnet/brick. While the nose opens spicy with dark chocolate, cassis, dried chill, paprika, menthol, ash and peppermint characters, it also shows some oxidative gunpowder characters that take over with breathing; the palate's also on the green side and is dying in the glass, the fruit's fading leaving bitter tannins. Well past its best.
FLIGHT 5:
1986 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 13.6% alc. Medium to almost dark garnet/brick. Familiar scents of creme de cassis, peppermint, ground spices, cedar and old leather with a little whiff of VA adding lift; the palate's still powerful and spicy, long and lingering with tingly, minerally bath salt characters that dance around the tongue, the tannins soft and silky. An absolute joy to taste, and it should hold this superb form for some years yet.
1985 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 12.2% alc. Medium to almost dark crimson/brick. Quite earthy and leathery nose with some lift, some sous bois, coffee, and caramel; the palate's seriously lacking in comparison, very dry and damp, as the oak influence fades what appears to be cork taint characters take over on the stripped mid-palate and finish.
1984 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 11.2% alc. Medium to almost dark brick/garnet. There are some remnants of dark chocolate on the nose, but the predominant characters are potato peelings and damp socks; in contrast the palate is completely destroyed by cork taint and has absolutely no remnants of any redeeming features.
1982 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): 12.1% alc. Medium to darkish brick/garnet. As well as the usual Riddoch characters of cassis, cedar, coffee and peppermint there are intriguing characters of soy, mushroom and umami; the earthy palate's still sweet with currant fruit and cedary oak, finishing long with silky tannins. As good as the wine was, the palate was so earthy that by the end of the tasting I was wondering if this too was a totally sound bottle?
Cheers
Ian
