Riddoch Coonawarra The Representative Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2021

High on the alcohol side – 15% – for a Coonawarra Cabernet-led red but boasting fruit power up to the task. The bouquet begins with a flurry of smoky, toasty vanillin oak, black fruits and lifted aromatics in rose and bayleaf. The palate gets down and serious in dark fruits, red berries, cherry and plum, earth and briar with some of Merlot’s sweeter notes. A wine to remind drinkers what they have been missing out on now that Cabernet Merlot blends aren’t quite as popular as they used to be. Why is that, exactly? Well-seasoned in French and American oak and in balance, it finishes with a subtle flourish.