It always a pleasure to taste the new red wine releases from Wynns Coonawarra Estate. With wines dating back as far as 1952, Wynns has an illustrious history of ageworthy wines, many of which last decades in the bottle. Even the not-so-humble Black Label can in great vintages outlast almost every other wine in the country. This year’s new releases from Wynns come from two exceptional Coonawarra vintages – 2019 and 2020 – and unsurprisingly are very special wines with Wynns Black Label continuing its tradition as one of the best value premium wines in Australia, if not the world, bar none. 2019 was a great Coonawarra vintage and 2020 is potentially better again.
Wynns Coonawarra Estate Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2020
94 Points – Drink 2030-2045
Very deeply coloured, this is a powerful and strongly varietal vintage of Wynns Coonawarra rippling with blackcurrant, graphite and gravel aromas, tucked in tight with high quality French oak. A classic Cabernet palate with great precision and focus of embryonic dark berry fruits with a dusting of dried herbs. It’s vibrant and firm thanks to a powerful blend of fruit and acidity giving a real claret-like feel to this vintage. An exceptional followup to the 2019 vintage that will be very long lived.
Wynns Coonawarra Estate Davis Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
94 Points – Drink 2028-2040
A beautifully expressive young Cabernet with lovely purity of cassis, violet and gently leafy aromas with classy oak sitting in perfect balance. Bright, fresh and vibrant flavours follow with a great combination of fleshy fruit and focus all underpinned by quite a sturdy tannin frame. There is already delicious drinkability but also plenty of good reason to give it at least ten years in the cellar for the slightly firm tannins to settle down.
Wynns Coonawarra Estate Michael Shiraz 2019
94 Points – Drink 2033-2040
A great vintage of Michael and the best in some some time with fantastic colour and fruit density. It opens with a powerful, tightly wound core of cool climate Shiraz fruit; blackberry, fruit pastilles and white pepper are beautifully framed by classy French oak. It then shows tremendous balance with robust dark fruits well matched to firm but fine tannins which drive a long, strong and sustained finish. A serious wine that needs at least a decade to come around.