Riddoch The Federator 2022

The Riddoch Estate in Coonawarra has released an Icon wine, the Federator – which sounds a bit like a combination of a great tennis player and a second rate superhero (apparently, back in 1887, a train which travelled between Adelaide and Melbourne was known as the Federator, which travelled through John Riddoch’s land). Fortunately, it drinks like a first rate wine. The vines supplying the fruit range between twenty and twenty-five years of age. 70% is from their northeast block, in the warmer part of Coonawarra, 10% from another terra rosa vineyard and the remainder is from the Riddoch Estate, a co-fermented blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The wine spends fifteen months in a mix of new and older oak. Just 3,060 bottles available. An inky dark maroon hue, this is wonderfully aromatic and classically Coonawarra. This is rich, well structured, and offering notes of cloves, blackberries, chocolate, black olives, espresso, mint and graphite. There is still a degree of austerity in these early days, as well as good intensity and a lovely, lingering finish. Very fine and yet firm tannins, the wine has excellent length and promises to deliver immense pleasure for the next twenty years. Love it.