Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

First made in 1982, the John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon is the flagship wine of the Wynns portfolio. It is made in small quantities from the best available fruit grown on Wynns Coonawarra Estate's extensive Cabernet plantings. It is produced from the top 1% of available Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and is made only in the years when the grapes are of extraordinarily high quality. It has become the definitive Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, and is arguably richer and more concentrated than any other wine in the region. The 2018 John Riddoch was sourced from three prime terra rossa soil vineyards with an average vine age of 29 years.

"This is the most incredible Wynns Cabernet I can remember. This sensational Coonawarra Cabernet is allowed to sing at its purest and most melodic in this spectacular vintage. What amazes me is the extraordinary complexity of perfume, flavour, depth and length in this wine. It expands on the palate in all directions without being a heavy or imposing wine. It is in the very highest echelons of cabernet sauvignon in the world. The balance is extraordinary, not least because, at only three years old, it can be swallowed and savoured with ease, and yet there must be three or four decades ahead for this majestic wine."  Matthew Jukes

"Matured for 15 months in French barriques and hogsheads. 35% new, remainder 2-3-year-old barrels. Deep crimson/red with an intense dark core. A fresh and inviting aroma of red and black cherries. Dried mint and fresh violets add florals. This is a wine of great freshness balance and power that will certainly reward good cellaring. A seamless line of perfectly ripe fruit is supported by a fine tannin framework. "  Wynns Coonawarra Estate

Expert reviews

"Deep crimson. A wonderfully evocative wine. Fragrant pure blackcurrant, dark cherry aromas with integrated praline mocha, roasted chestnut notes and touches of sage and violet. Beautifully concentrated wine with voluminous blackcurrant, dark cherry, mulberry fruits, plentiful fine grainy al dente tannins, superb dark chocolate, mocha, espresso complexity and underlying chinotto sage notes. Finishes grainy/ cedar firm with pure cassis, kirsch notes and a plume of extract. Elegant, powerful and expansive with the structure and balance for long term aging; the fruit, tannin, oak and acidity are beautifully integrated."  Andrew Caillard MW - 99 points

"This is the most incredible Wynns Cabernet I can remember. This is a fairly heavy statement because I have been drinking these wines for 35 years. I am convinced this wine will be one of the most sought-after non-French wines. With only 35% new French oak barriques and hogsheads involved, the sensational Coonawarra Cabernet is allowed to sing at its purest and most melodic in this spectacular vintage. What amazes me is the extraordinary complexity of perfume, flavour, depth and length in this wine. It expands on the palate in all directions without being a heavy or imposing wine. I have awarded the wine a score of 19.5+/20 in my notes, which puts it in the very highest echelons of cabernet sauvignon in the world. The balance is extraordinary, not least because, at only three years old, it can be swallowed and savoured with ease, and yet there must be three or four decades ahead for this majestic wine."  Matthew Jukes, Money Week - 19.5+/20 points

"With a very deep, brooding purple/red Colour, it has a remarkably complex, savoury bouquet of beautifully integrated fruit and oak, very ripe cabernet aromas with no leafy herbal accents and lots of dark fruit, blackberry and cassis interwined with cedar, smoky bacon and graphite nuances. Almost decadenly rich and fleshy, it's full-bodied and loaded with extract, the abundant tannins supple and suberbly knitted into the fabric of the wine. A glorious cabernet. Drink: 2023–2048."  Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 98 points

"Oh my, this is such a good wine – as good as any that have been released under this label. It is remarkable that a wine of such finesse and refinement should also have such power and drive. But that’s Coonawarra in a good year, managed with first rate winemaking after the viticulturist has delivered the fruit. Has a slightly liqueur cherry aroma with cool leaf and tobacco leaf nuances. The palate is sublime with the fine weave of tannin, fine grained oak and silky-smooth fruit. As you might expect it is still a little shy and closed but decanting will give you a glimpse of what it will become. Drink: 2025 – 2045."  Ray Jordan, Wine Pilot - 98 points

"Wynns’ flagship cabernet, selected from the best estate vineyards and refined even further from the top one per cent of the harvest. Without question, this wine exhibits the most elite nuances imaginable of dark berry and mint chocolate aromatics and flavours, enhanced by an exciting tension in the palate with energetic acidity pulsating underneath and lively tannins offering support from the sidelines as all the elements swell with promise and delight with immediate pleasure. The structures here suggest extraordinary longevity. Top of the tree. Drink: 2025 – 2045."  Tony Love, Wine Pilot - 98 points

"This is Wynn’s flagship wine and justifiably so. Not made every year, as the vintage has to be a good one, it stills manages to sit comfortably with the best cabernets made in this country, and has done so since the very first vintage back in 1982. It is a wine that has great longevity. 2018 is a great vintage for John Riddoch. So careful are Wynn’s with this wine that only the best grapes are used – less than one percent of their finest cabernet qualifies as suitable for the John Riddoch. The wine spends 15 months in “new (18%) and seasoned French oak hogsheads (47%) and barriques (53%)”. So well structured and so finely balanced is this vintage, as they all are, that you can drink it today, but it is a wine which will age and improve for many years. The colour is magenta/dark purple. The aromas are so alluring and while there is oak evident, the wine is so well balanced that it is as close to invisible as one could wish. The fruit envelopes any hint of it. The wine is utterly seamless with a supple creamy texture. Notes of chocolate, blackberries and mint, florals and even the merest hint of red berries. This is certainly the most refined wine in the Collection. It is both elegant and powerful, a very fine line to tread. The intensity is maintained throughout with good acidity and very fine, silky tannins. Thanks to the elegance found here, it is certainly approachable now but it has the structure and fruit to last and improve for another ten, twenty or thirty years. An exquisite cabernet, one of Australia’s best."  Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot - 98 points

"A fascinating expression of John Riddoch in 2018. Gone are the blockbuster, oaky styles of old and they have been replaced by more classically styled, reserved and sophisticated wines, this version aged for 15 months in French Oak, only 18% of which was new. This is a fantastic example of new Riddoch and will stand among the great vintages, although 2019 will give it a good run for the money this time next year. 

Bright deep ruby and almost opaque, the wine is confident and self-assured with powerful, precise fruits well matched to high quality oak.  Blackberry, fruit pastilles and cedar – it is still young and no doubt will build plenty more complexity with age. More flowing red currants emerge on the palate that is still largely tightly wound although everything is in its perfect place – acid, tannins and fruit are strong and reserved but still show exceptional power and length. This is a serious international cabernet that would not be out of place among the great wines of the world. Drink: 2030 - 2050."  Angus Hughson, Wine Pilot - 98 points

"Strong colour; a very potent, deeply layered, full-bodied wine in which all of the expected Coonawarra cabernet characters coalesce: blackcurrant, blackberry, mulberry, earth and mint, and that's before you start talking about the classy oak or fine, ripe tannins. drink by 2045."  Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion - 97 points and Special Value Wine  ★ 

"Second year on the Place de Bordeaux for the flagship wine John Riddoch first made by Wynns in 1982 from the best available Cabernet Sauvignon grapes grown in the estate’s Coonawarra vineyards. This has a lovely distinct nose full of black fruits, menthol touches and mineral wet stone notes. Plush on the palate, this has chewy but fine and barely-there tannins that grip gently and caress the fruit all the way through the palate. Incredible freshness, from generous acidity, as well as intensity and the cooling menthol elements with lively blackcurrant is so enjoyable. An excellent wine with real personality from long-standing winemaker Sue Hodder. Grapes are matured for 15 months in French barriques and hogsheads (35% new), with the remainder in 2-3 year old barrels. Drink: 2022-2038."  Georgina Hindle, Decanter - 97 points

"Ah, that scent. It’s everything to do with Coonawarra:  eucalypt mixing with earth, briar and Aussie bush and the region’s number one grape variety’s black-hearted intensity. And, so, so snug and inviting. This may be one of the more relaxed John Riddoch releases of recent times. It seems all set to go right now. The country scents are immediately approachable, so too the woodsy spice, toasty oak and generous fruit. It all but melts on the tongue but do not on any count underestimate the power that lies underneath the surface. Drink: 2021 – 2042."  Jeni Port, Wine Pilot - 96 points 

Awards

Special Value Wine – Halliday Wine Companion  ★ 

Sue Hodder

Sue Hodder is one of Australia's best-known winemakers. Sue grew up in Alice Springs and began her wine career as a viticulturist before moving into winemaking. She joined Wynns in 1993 as a winemaker under the guidance of Peter Douglas before being appointed senior winemaker in 1998.

Sue celebrated her 30th vintage at Wynn's in May 2022 in the same year that the winery celebrated 40 years of the winery's John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon, named after the pioneer who first plated the vineyards back in 1891.

After 30 vintages, Hodder said: "I still have great joy in walking out the back door to our historic triple-gabled winery. While this beautiful building remains largely untouched, we do now use smaller tanks, oak fermenters, different oak barrels, and an optical berry sorter. These winemaking tools just enable us to be more confidently creative. Our winemaking team has had remarkably few changes over the years – we are a family at Wynns, and our house style remains clear.”

Sue Hodder has been the guiding light for Wynns since the nineties, supported by viticultural guru Allen Jenkins and winemaker Sarah Pidgeon. Over the last 20 years the team have overseen a program of revitalizing and replacing the old vines damaged by excessive machine pruning. Since 2002, 300 hectares of vines have been rejuvenated. They have also purchased the best winemaking equipment available, including an optical grape sorter that had "shocking" results, according to Hodder. "The main result is brighter fruit," she says. 

In addition, Sue has initiated a move to open fermentors in the winery and 100% French oak, which together with the viticultural improvements, have resulted in more elegant wines with greater fruit purity and very bright, precise fruit flavours and aromas. 

Sue and Allen were joint winners of the 2010 Gourmet Traveller WINE Winemaker of the Year Award, among many other accolades Sue has picked up in her esteemed career. In 2021 Sue became a Fellow of the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology (ASVO) for her outstanding and meritorious contribution to Australian wine

About the winery

What is now Wynns Coonawarra Estate was founded by Scottish pioneer John Riddoch. He planted vineyards in 1891 and built the famous three-gabled winery. By 1897, 89 hectares of vines had been cultivated.  After a promising start, the Coonawarra Fruit Colony (as it was called then) failed to prosper due to its distance from major markets and poor economic conditions. John Riddoch died in 1901 at the age of 73.

In 1951, Melbourne wine merchants Samuel Wynn and his son David purchased Riddoch's original vineyards and winery and renamed the property Wynns Coonawarra Estate. The Wynns family recognised the intrinsic qualities of Coonawarra wines – their richness and intensity of fruit character – and set out to build an independent identity in the region. David took over the winery operations in 1953, and commissioned Melbourne artist Richard Beck to produce a woodcut of the winery facade. This illustration has appeared on every Wynns Coonawarra Estate label since, making it one of Australia's most recognised wine symbols.

Michael Shiraz (then called Hermitage) was a one-off from the 1955 vintage. The outstanding quality of the shiraz in one particular 2,300 litre vat was recognised for its quality, and bottled separately as Michael, named after David's first son. The second release of Michael Shiraz followed many years later in 1990.

Wynns increased its holdings in Coonawarra over the next two decades. By 1981, it was the largest grower in the district with 440 hectares under vine. The first wine bearing John Riddoch's name, the Wynns John Riddoch Cabernet, was produced in 1982.

David Wynn sold Wynns in the early seventies to focus on the Mountadam Venture with his son Adam. Over the last 50 years, Wynns has had many owners and in the new millennium, the company ended up in the vast portfolio of Treasury Wine Estates.

Today, Wynns Coonawarra Estate has 500 hectares of vineyards in Coonawarra and is the region's preeminent wine producer and largest single vineyard holder with the best and longest established vineyard sites in Coonawarra. Its wines are regarded as benchmarks for the district, lauded for their consistent quality, and depth of flavour.