1998 Wynns Cabernet John Riddoch

[marcs]

John Riddoch is the super-cuvée of Wynns Cabernet Sauvignon, which you may be familiar with from the Wynns black label Cab that used to be easy to find. Unfortunately Wynns does not seem to be imported to the US any more, as I thought the Black Label was perhaps the best inexpensive pure Cabernet I’ve ever found (they used to be like $15 a bottle in the US).

The JR is more expensive but a pretty spectacular wine if you love Cabernet Sauvignon. It ages forever; this bottle was just coming around after 25 years. Really deep and rich but also tightly controlled and structured; the tannin integration into the body of the wine was remarkable. Very Cabernet, tomato leaf, basil, cedar, and a deep, rich vegetal sweetness. Earlier in its life this showed more Aussie-style mint and eucalyptus but it has mellowed and integrated more with age. Vaguely reminiscent of Monte Bello to me in its combination of intense fruit and powerful acid- driven structure, but the oak here is French and the acidity, while intense, is less obtrusive - it makes way for the fruit on the mid palate but leaves you salivating and with your tongue tingling on the finish. 13.3% alcohol - this is not the Barossa.

What’s special about pure cabernet to me is its ability to combine a subtly “green” vegetal quality, tight structure, and a hauntingly deep sweetness. Napa cabs often sacrifice this for a soft plummy chocolatey quality, and even Bordeaux tends to have more of a “Bordeaux” blended quality than pure Cabernet (although some producers certainly emphasize Cab). Also, Bordeaux can’t always get the pure intensity of fruit that new world wines can. This is one of the best interpretations of pure Cabernet I’ve had. A very unique expression, as powerful as California but definitively not California in its extraordinary control, acidity, and structure. It’s a shame it’s not more widely available in the US - some very recent vintages are, but this is a wine that takes a long time to come around.

[Comte Flaneur]

Hi Marc thanks for the note - I still have a couple of these 98 JRs left - my case of six has been highly variable - but I must pull one out soon for a spin, it’s been a while since I opened one. It is a revered wine Down Under.

[marcs]

Glad to hear you have some, Ian! It definitely is opening up, although I enjoyed previous bottles as well. This is the third bottle of this I've had over the past 10-15 years, and I have three to go.

I'll note that I might have exaggerated my view of the quality of this wine in some of the adjectives above. I would put it in the 93-95 point range in my personal scoring system, which for me is an excellent and thought-provoking wine, rather than a 96-98 point wine which is, like, verging on transcendent or life-changing (the latter meaning severely wallet-damaging LOL). I rate very few wines in the above 95 point range. This wine would lack a certain level of extraordinary complexity or multi-dimensionality or whatever je ne sais quoi to reach that range. But I really appreciated the purity of expression of cabernet here and the way it incorporated so many things I love about the grape. I really like the new world intensity without any hint of sloppiness, softness, or lack of structure, and just the uniqueness of the wine -- couldn't be California, couldn't be France, but still world-class.

[Claudius2]

Marcs
Yeah I drink the Black Label CS by the dozen and have done so for 40 years.
The Black Label is a bit more expensive these days - particularly in Singapore - but it is a very reliable wine.

The JR is a very good example of Coonawarra with plenty of oak and fruit. Yet I drank both the 1990 Black Label and JR recently and the Black Label was - tasted blind - voted the best wine at around a quarter of the price.

If you want a few recommendations for Coonawarra wines, personal favs include Bowen, Katnook, Parker, Zema, Petaluma, Brand’s Laira, Hollick and Majella. The latter by the way has more peppermint character than any other Aussie CS that I can think of.

Ian
I am of course a lover of Coonawarra wines and the purity of fruit. They don’t taste like Bordeaux but for that matter, they are not much like Margaret River or Southern Victoria. Sorry the JR case has been variable but is is a very long way to London and it is bad enough to Singapore. I get too many failures here. 1998 was a great South Aust vintage though Coonawarra is a very reliable region if the corks are fine and the transport hasn’t led to cooked wines.

Cheers
Mark

[AKR]

Another wave of mass market (but good) OZ wines seems to be hitting the West Coast again. Hopefully there will be some/any of the Wynn lineup.

The China/OZ trade disputes is leading to the curious disruptions, and occasional deals, although it seems like the online peddlers are trying to keep most of the margin for themselves.

[marcs]

Marcs
Yeah I drink the Black Label CS by the dozen and have done so for 40 years.
The Black Label is a bit more expensive these days - particularly in Singapore - but it is a very reliable wine.

The JR is a very good example of Coonawarra with plenty of oak and fruit. Yet I drank both the 1990 Black Label and JR recently and the Black Label was - tasted blind - voted the best wine at around a quarter of the price.

If you want a few recommendations for Coonawarra wines, personal favs include Bowen, Katnook, Parker, Zema, Petaluma, Brand’s Laira, Hollick and Majella. The latter by the way has more peppermint character than any other Aussie CS that I can think of.

Ian
I am of course a lover of Coonawarra wines and the purity of fruit. They don’t taste like Bordeaux but for that matter, they are not much like Margaret River or Southern Victoria. Sorry the JR case has been variable but is is a very long way to London and it is bad enough to Singapore. I get too many failures here. 1998 was a great South Aust vintage though Coonawarra is a very reliable region if the corks are fine and the transport hasn’t led to cooked wines.

Cheers
Mark

Not a single one of the other Coonawarra Cabernets available in the U.S. per Winesearcher LOL

[Ambrose]

Good list there Mark.

Despite being from WA I drink a fair bit of Coonawarra, mainly for price reasons. Many of my favourite Margaret River wines have doubled or tripled in price in the last decade yet you can still get reliable Coonawarra cabs for $30 Aud (often on special for half that). There’s not many that don’t drink really well after 8-10 years in the cellar & they also don’t seem to shut down randomly like other Cabs.

I’m also a fan of Balnaves (nice people) though the 04’s - 06’s I bought recently (direct from the winery) have been solid rather than spectacular. I reckon they’ve been on a roll since 2012. Full throttle, 14.5 kinda stuff but powerful , varietal & delicious. Wouldn’t be bringing to a BWE night though!

[Comte Flaneur]

This is the best Aussie wine I have drunk in ages. A Thistledown ‘Sands of Time’ Grenache 2019,with grapes sourced from old vines in Blewitt Springs in the McLaren Vale and ‘only’ 14.5% abv. It is a beautifully nuanced and balanced wine made by two Aussie MWs, with wispy strawberry red fruits, herby, spicey nuances and an unerring finish. It is as beautiful as the label. I tried it next to a bottle of Ch. Belair Monange 2017, drinking young wines to emulate our BD. Needless to say the B-M, though showing great promise and class, was a few of Blanquitos away from prime time drinking and the Thistledown was the star of the show, as it is ready to enjoy now. If you see some don’t hesitate…it cost £42 pb here.

[AKR]

Clarendon Hills used to bottle up some old vine Blewitt Springs grenache, which I remember buying around the turn of the century. They were impressive!

[ericindc]

Wynn's has been getting easier to find lately, or at least I've found more stores with Asutralian wines. Not sure why. I've been on a quest to find interesting aussie and New Zealand wines the last few months. Probably from watching all the TV shows from down there. I actually picked up several John Riddoch's over the years since Marc S brought one to a tasting and I've found them to really really good. In fact, I just picked up a case of the 2018s today. Figure they should be ready right about the time I retire, lol.

[Ambrose]

Part of the reason might be that recently China put some massive tariffs on Australian wine - essentially ending the trade into our biggest market. A lot of the big guys including Treasury (who own Wynns) have been massively hit & out looking for different markets. There has been some decent big brand wine going very cheap over here.

On the flipside, a lot of the more cult or top end family producers are raising their prices massively and also selling out very quickly. I’m sure it’s the same in the States - in that the rich-ish people who buy these wines haven’t been able to travel, have made massive capital gains with their property & are also reacting to the insane price rises of Burgundy etc.

[Claudius2]

Part of the reason might be that recently China put some massive tariffs on Australian wine - essentially ending the trade into our biggest market. A lot of the big guys including Treasury (who own Wynns) have been massively hit & out looking for different markets. There has been some decent big brand wine going very cheap over here.

On the flipside, a lot of the more cult or top end family producers are raising their prices massively and also selling out very quickly. I’m sure it’s the same in the States - in that the rich-ish people who buy these wines haven’t been able to travel, have made massive capital gains with their property & are also reacting to the insane price rises of Burgundy etc.

Yes I’m a TWE shareholder and sales did take a hit with the crazy and nasty Chinese tariff war. Same happened with some mineral exports but the exporters found ways around this childishness.

TWE’s share price has largely recovered and much of their wine has found new buyers including Australian consumers with wine consumption steadily increasing down under. I get data from the industry every month (luckily on some industry email lists) which shows that other Asian markets are increasing in sales.

The industry is currently making a lot of effort to get into the growing Indian market. With a growing middle class wine consumption is starting to pick up and the Aust Govt has throwing some money and effort into it.

Just a comment on Margaret River and Coonawarra.
I like both and also Yarra Valley wines. Margaret River Cabs tend to be a little earthier and denser in style, whilst Coonawarra is more about Cassis and a bit of leafiness- sometimes a bit much. Some examples can show mulberry and red currant flavours.

Yarra Valley is difficult to generalised about as the region is spread out and styles vary. Altitude also varies a lot. Coonawarra is a contiguous patch of earth with red soil (terra rossa) and while wines of course vary, the terroir is largely the same.

Cheers
Mark

[AKR]

The tough thing for the OZ producers is that since they fundamentally produce far more than their nation drinks, there is plenty to export, and vintages backed up. Dumping it to the thirsty US might get rid of that short term (?) oversupply, but if the end consumer sees price cuts, 20 years of brand building gets torched fast. Some of the internet sellers are 'protecting' that MSRP as they peddle 3-4 year old from release wines, but I don't think consumers are fooled.