Tasting

Hold a glass of Coonawarra Cabernet up to the light. The color already reveals a lot: deep violet in a young wine, shifting toward brick red at the rim with age. On the nose come dark berries first, cassis and blackberry, often with a hint of plum and dark cherry.

Right beneath, sometimes right above, sits the aroma that sets Coonawarra apart from every other Cabernet region: a cool streak of mint or eucalyptus, noticeable from the very first pour. It comes partly from natural aroma compounds within the grape itself, which are especially well preserved during cool nights. Partly it comes from the eucalyptus trees growing around many vineyards, which release their essential oils onto the nearby grapes. Wine experts still argue today over which source predominates.

On the palate, tannin then makes itself known, firm and grippy in youth, but increasingly velvety with age. It's exactly this transformation that makes the best Coonawarra Cabernets wines you can cellar for twenty years or more. A young wine can seem almost closed off. After a decade, it opens into an entirely different wine, softer, more complex, with dried herbs and a hint of leather.

The John Riddoch from Wynns shows just how far this journey can go. First bottled in 1982, it's produced only in exceptional vintages. Many consider it the benchmark for what Coonawarra can achieve. Anyone who has ever set a mature vintage beside a young one immediately understands why patience with this wine isn't a drawback, it's half the pleasure.