This article appeared originally on The Wine Front

Posted on 18 September 2022 by Kasia Sobiesiak

Last week I went to a second Tuesday Club that commemorated Sue Hodder’s 30th vintage at Wynns Coonawarra Estate and the 40th release of the John Riddoch label. What a treat and privilege to taste through decades of excellent winemaking.

There were three brackets and in each of them, there were a couple of Black Labels and a couple of John Riddochs from a similar time period along with a mystery benchmark wine. It was semi-blind (scrambled order) with two mystery wines entirely unknown and the third odd wine was Wynns Centenary Shiraz Cabernet 1991.

Thanks to Sandy McKenzie for putting this together.

John Riddoch

1998
At first, quiet, reserved, stewed and mushroomy, gentle perfume, still very firm tannins, chalky and lively, a lot of cool dark polished leather. Developing yet holding overarching freshness. Very very pleasant and elegant. From a very good year.

1996
Feels big and dense, mushroomy, with walnut skin, dark liquor cherry underneath, and black brooding fruits. Minty vanilla creeps in, still some fresh tobacco, tense and black-fruited core. Perhaps a bit oxidised (bottle?) but charming.

1994
Black cherry, blackcurrant, fresh as, succulent, the finish is soft and gently fades away. Holds up very firm tannins. Intriguing personality, not an obvious charm here.

1991
Concentrated, firm chalky tannins and plenty of fleshy fruit albeit drying, sweet tobacco, great intensity of flavour, and a long long finish. Very very good. In a sweet sweet spot, but with that intensity it may as well go for a bit more.

1990
Liquorice and kirsch, somewhat sweet with hints of black coffee, velvety tannins and a bitter twist to finish. Feels like the fruit was very ripe and the sunny vintage made a sweet-edged, nonetheless, lovely wine.

1988
Minty with stewed meat sauce, or mushroom sauce, high acid—very sour, tart, pumice tannins, salty, iron-like. Such a powerful acid line. Strong tertiary feels here already. Probably good to drink now.

1986
Some stewed fruit there amongst spice and earthiness but it feels a smidge thin in comparison, slightly stripped of greater depth and flavour, a touch dusty. Perhaps tired or a bottle variation.

1982 (sic)
This was corked.

Black Label

1998
Fruits are slowly fading, it’s showing dried herbs, crystallised pine raisin, polished leather, such bright clean acidity, smooth, bright vivid palate with primary fruits becoming tertiary, and orange peel with dried cranberries tingle. Clovy dusty oak, too. Lovely balance of freshness and visible development. Much like.

1996
Tart fruit, liquorice, fresher in that sense, not all tertiary, bay leaf, firm and concentrated, pomegranate balsamic vinegar in its finest version. High-toned. In line with some Nebbiolo traits, slightly different to others in the lineup, interesting. With lots of character.

1994
Liqueur cherry, glazed with balsamic reduction, liquorice and sweet-scented, leather too. Reserved, tart blackberries. Tannins are drying, like crushed granite, coffee beans, and black tea with bergamot. Compelling. Apparently, 1994 wasn’t a heralded vintage at the time but it resolved itself beautifully. My personal favourite.

1991
Minty—dried mint leaves, drying tannins and very savoury, sage—that kind of bitter sore throat spray (childhood memory), a bitter amaro, think Fernet Branca with burnt orange peel and spice. It’s edgy, rough and rustic. Savoury and powerful. I like it in this guise.

1990
Boot polish, an intense touch of ripe cooked fruits and some stewed vanilla and cherry sauce. All wrapped up in squicky/chalky tannins.

1988
Sweet oak feels here, minty sage-like mouthfeel, orange peel acidity, aromatic in that way with bitter oil perfume. Fruit is less present here, hiding somewhere underneath the developing nose.

1986
Big tannin and big flavours, savoury, succulent, still very muscular and fresh, mint, sage on the palate with substantial spice. Holding the form with presence and potence.

1982
Black cherry, kirsch in sense, dipped in rum, dark chocolate palate with that dark chocolate acidity, very smooth. There’s not much going on anymore, but it took on the form of dark chocolate feel in its finest quality, velvety. Decadent, in a way, dare I say.

Benchmark comparison

1995 Château Calon-Ségur Saint-Estèphe (Grand Cru Classé)
Well, this is definitely different, stands out in a line-up as a non-Wynns. Frankly, a bit disappointing, full of barnyard, horsehair, rustic, dark compost—damp earth. Fruit buried deep underneath. That’s what I call “giddy up”. I do like and appreciate country-style aromas to some extent but this was overpowering. Perhaps a bottle, perhaps not.

1991 Wynns Centenary Shiraz Cabernet
All fresh soft leather and mushrooms, pungent acidity, tart, bright, high-pitched. Still some fresh blackberries and blackcurrants and a line of cooked sage with stewed meat. Seemed a bit more fleshy than others in the lineup but not necessarily Shiraz-focused in flavours per se.

1983 Moss Wood Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Boot paste, soy sauce, leathery, spice and minty palate with the refreshing aftertaste, gamey, stewed meat, high chalky tannins, sweet-fruited too. Obviously developing but there are layers of interest to discover.

All in all, Wynns proved outstanding consistency and great fruit quality with remarkable vibrancy throughout the years. Very glad I could taste Australian wine history in some of the finest Cabernet expressions out there. Now off to market!