Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon John Riddock Limited Release 2016

Andrew Caillard MW

Deep crimson. Lovely pure blackcurrant elderberry herb garden aromas with hints of espresso/ roasted chestnut notes. Beautiful concentrated wine with blackcurrant elderberry chinotto herb flavours, fine-grained and plentiful yet vigorous tannins, superb mid palate richness and integrated roasted chestnut/ cedar oak notes. Finishes chalky firm with a long inky/ graphite plume. Made for the long haul. Powerfully expressive yet unforced wine with superb vinosity, richness, density and volume. Superb. The fruit derives from the V&A (Victoria & Albert) and Nursery Vineyards, both located on classic terra-rossa soils. From a dry, mild to warm growing season. Wait a few years to let it unfold, 2025-2050

Decanter

Lots of lean muscle converts into flavour power: pure blackcurrant and chocolate, sage, plum and espresso, all bound in a graphite tannic grip. Coming from a drier vintage, the density of serious fruit weight equates to intensity, and the flavor clarity persists and resonates long after the last note strikes. Think of that final piano chord in The Beatles’ A Day In The Life. Captivating!

Langtons Classification of Australian Wine

Crafted from select parcels, the John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon eloquently expresses Coonawarra's terroir, climate nuances, and meticulous viticulture. Debuting in 1982 as Wynns' flagship, this wine is a testament to perfection, using less than one percent of top cabernet grapes. Revered akin to the 1962 Penfolds Bin 60A Cabernet Shiraz, it symbolises Coonawarra's essence, pivotal in shaping the region's viticultural prominence.

James Halliday

From a tiny fraction (about 1% ) of Wynns' cabernet crush handled with kid gloves in the specialised winery. Densely coloured, its amalgam of cassis and bay leaf is held within a fine web of ripe tannins, the excellent vintage also helping shape a cabernet of the highest class.

The Real Review

#1 of 48 (2016 Cabernet Sauvignon from Coonawarra) | Very deep, youthful, bright purple/red colour, saturated and dense, while the bouquet is deep and latent, ripe and dark-berried, with a lacing of walnutty oak. It's very full-bodied and firm, with abundant tannin and grip. A very big, powerful, yet elegant and well-proportioned cabernet with a big future. The tannins are very firm and very abundant - but they're good tannins and the wine will be long-lived. I'd cellar it for at least five and preferably 10 years. 12 May 2019

Robert Parker

These John Riddoch wines are, with each passing year, more approachable, more supple and more lithe on release. Coonawarra has a reputation in Australia for producing extraordinarily long-lived Cabernet Sauvignons, which are not necessarily approachable early. Well. These modern wines buck that trend. The refined oak program has actually done something to support the fruit and elevate it rather than weigh it down—a result of many years of research and work by the Wynns team, particularly winemaker Sarah Pigeon. So, to the wine. This 2016 John Riddoch Limited Release Cabernet Sauvignon offers five spice, mulberry, raspberry salted licorice, clove, tobacco leaf, a hint of nag champa tobacco, jasmine tea and brilliant length—I wrote the note off the length. These wines should be measured by their balance, and their ability to age. In this case, also by its beauty as a young wine. Drink it now, but you're better served by exercising a little patience and drinking from 2026 through to the late 2040s and beyond.

Vivino

(220 bedømmelser, “Topbedømt årgang af denne vin”, 1386 DKK, 16-10-2025)