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!Drinking Window 2020 – 2050

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. Special. Closure: Screwcap. 13.7% alcohol.

(96+ points) 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. - Erin Larkin

This is a very impressive and regal cabernet with a rich array of ripe blackcurrants, mulberries and blackberries on offer, as well as a cedary and gently chalky edge. There’s a very rich and powerful core of deep-set fruit, as well as a thread of rich chocolate flavor and a very polished, assertive core of tannin that holds super long. Try from 2022. Screw cap.

Saturated ruby. Smoke-tinged cherry, cassis and licorice scents, along with hints of pipe tobacco, potpourri and cola. Gently sweet and focused on the palate, offering concentrated yet energetic dark fruit, floral pastille and roasted coffee flavors sharpened by a peppery nuance. A vanilla note emerges on an impressively long, finely detailed finish shaped by polished tannins. -- Josh Raynolds