Andrew Caillard MW

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.

Ray Jordan

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.

Ken Gargett - Winepilot

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 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. An exquisite cabernet, one of Australia’s best.

Tony Love

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.

Angus Hughson

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.

Huon Hooke

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.

Vinous

This young 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon John Riddoch is a complete and stylish package that will deliver for decades to come. It initially offers up a dense core of youthful fruits including blackberry, fruit pastilles and cedar, with high quality oak already well integrated. Despite its raw power, the wine also remains composed and focused, with firm, mouthcoating tannins driving a long, savoury finish. It, again, shows the seamlessness which is becoming a hallmark of this label.

Decanter

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.

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

Pencil lead and graphite, packed full of supple and savoury Cabernet flavours, a punch of dark fruits and eucalyptus notes on the finish. Smooth, sweet raspberry fruits, touches of cherry pit and cedar adds definition and depth. Impossible to miss the personality and swagger on this wine. 35% new oak (French oak barrels and hogsheads), 3.61ph, 37hl/h yield. Tasted twice, excellent quality.

Wine Companion

From 3 vineyards on terra rossa soil, average vine age 29yo. Optically sorted. The best of the best – a selection of less than 1% of all cabernet parcels. Open fermenters, on skins for average 24 days. Matured 15 months in French barriques and hogsheads (35% new, remainder 2–3yo), mlf in barrel. Tasting young John Riddoch simply throws a spotlight on its quality as the cornerstone, because this wine evolves into something special with age. It's a majestic wine. Full bodied and deep, with an abundance of tannins, but all in place, with a brightness to the acidity. There's nothing harsh here. Earthy flavours, cedary oak and excellent fruit make it a bit of a tease: it is rather easy to open a bottle to enjoy now, yet its best years are ahead of it.