Wynns John Riddoch Limited Release Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

98 Points - Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate

The 2021 John Riddoch Limited Release Cabernet Sauvignon is a brilliant wine. It is achingly intense yet is defined by its levity, which is not a common attribute in Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine expounds the virtues of the red gravel in which the fruit was grown, via its iodine and crushed shells, cassis and blood, sweet marrow and tobacco. It tastes so clearly of the place, which is a wonderful thing. The back palate swells with flavor, framed by the earth and the attuned oak. This is a tribute to the earth, an ode to it. Plentiful tannins bob along on the current of fruit. This will cellar interminably. It's up there in both quality and feel with the 2010, or so I think. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

98 Points - James Halliday

16 months French oak hogsheads and barriques (31% new, the balance one to six years old) and 22 months in bottle prior to release. A cacophony of blackberries, Bing cherries and elderberries. Blackcurrant leaf, acaí and prune skin. Black coffee, vanilla pod, ash and charcoal. Acidity wisps about the palate like magic, a mesh of thread-like tannins pull and draw the focus. A hint of dark chocolate bitters; the wine finishes perky with echoing tunes of granite. It's just so centered and chic. Pure cabernet poise.