TheWineCommander

In Part 4 of this series on Wynns Coonawarra Black Label Cabernet we reviewed the tasting notes of vintages between 1954 – 1975.

Look for years you have in your cellar.

Now how did the vintages 1976 -1996 stack up? Refer to the notes of vintages you have in your cellar. Scores are out of 100.

1976
Coonarwarra’s first Jimmy Watson Trophy and hence wine of considerable renown.  The nose is perfumed, with floral and lavender bath salt hints.  The palate follows with more fleshy, cedary, truffley notes. Very soft tannins, reasonable length.  Good acidity behind it.  Another wine that continued to improve in the glass. 95

1977
The one disappointing vintage from the back half of the decade.  The first time those green, herbaceous, capsicum characters dominated, Also a little earthiness.  Not a happy wine.  Some oak poking through, no great length, and a sour-nettle note on the finish.  Past

1978
A vintage, like a few that follow, that should have been ideal, but sadly had that was green, lean, and mean. It is a wine that must surely have had more promise than it has achieved.  Some noticeable oak elbows through, along with hints of chocolate, coffee, and cedar.  Fine tannins, but no real length. One could expect a little more from a 40-year-old Coonawarra Cab from a good year. Past

1979
Welcome to the Green Machine.  Herbaceous, lean capsicum notes, tomato leaf.  No real complexity or length.  Fades away. A wine of its time.  Past

1980
A horrible nose: green peas, herbaceous notes, asparagus, but it is a wine in a holding pattern and seems likely to remain so for many years. One feels that there might be some attractive characters underneath that are attempting to emerge but have little chance of doing so.  An abrupt, hard finish. Past 

1981
Some dry herbals, and certainly it offers less of that extreme green of the previous few wines.  A little lean and un forthcoming.  Some dark fruits as well.  It is a little hollow in the middle and a bit grippy on the finish.  Tannins do protrude.  Nicest thing one can say is that this is better than the 1980.  86

1982
This is the New World, and we have left the green doldrums in our wake.  So much more attractive.  Cassis, chocolate, hints of mint, classic Coonawarra.  A little tomato- bush note, but it does no more than add complexity. A supple, creamy texture.  Excellent balance and intensity. A lovely wine that got better in the glass. 95

1983
The dreaded ”biblical vintage”: fires, floods, tornadoes and general pestilence,  A wine,   that should never have been as good as it is.  A slightly austere and unforgiving style, with a firm texture, dark fruits, and an oyster-shell character, grippy tannins, indeed, a little too firm all around.One feels that it will exist in this state for many more years.  It is drinkable, but not in the pleasure-giving style of the 1982.  88

1984
This, is the return of the herbals.  Just when you thought it was safe to go back to your glass…Asparagus, vegetal, and green notes. Possibly some more pleasurable flavors within, but why bother trying to find them?  Too difficult.  Disappointing lack of length.  This could have, should have, been so much better. Past  

1985
An immediate impression of mild chocolate, followed by raisin, prune and Christmas cake.  Plenty of expressive dark fruits on the nose.  Focus and length.  The acidity has become slightly pokey, but overall not bad for a 30-year-old wine. 90

1986
A wine from a much-lauded vintage. There was lots to like. Some herbal, nettle characters came through early.  It still had bags of life and was quite fresh, with generosity and weight.  Cedar, choc, truffle notes, but just a little too much of the herbals had taken over.  Fine acidity, a little grip, and decent length, though perhaps not the extent it once offered, and it fell away.  A little mint crept in at the finish.  Certainly a very good and thoroughly enjoyable wine.  92

1987
An ordinary year and a wine I really disliked.  Oxidation?  VA?  Some dark berry and earthy, cedary notes but a sour, horrible, and hard palate. Excessive mint notes. Past

1988
After a couple of disappointments, this was one of the great wines. An absolute cracker.  Dark berries, black cherries.  Choc-mint notes, cassis, truffles.  Seamless, elegant, intensive, and with great length.  Impressive complexity and fine balance, the finish lingering with intent.  96

1989
If any wine of this decade (along with the ’83) had a right to struggle, this was it.  A very poor year, yet the wine far surpasses the vintage.  Black olives, cloves, blood-pudding notes, spices, some oak, but it is all neatly tied up.  There is plenty of acidity, and one wonders if it will retain balance. 90 

1990
If any decade should have sent the blood rushing, this must surely be it.  Many famous vintages throughout, perhaps none more so than this one.  The decade also features two “doubles “ – 1990 and 1991, 1998 and 1999, and there has always been much debate about which of each pair was the superior year. This had some gamey animal-hide notes, a little mint lingering, oriental spices, cloves, black olives and dark chocolate.  Quite dense.  Powerful.  Very fine tannins and neatly balanced.  A beautiful, elegant Cabernet. 94 

1991
As mentioned, the best of this extensive tasting.  Coffee bean, mint chocolate, soy sauce.  Elegance personified.  Perfumed, seamless, intense, balanced, and complex.  The silkiest of tannins and good acidity.  A complete wine.  Very, very long finish.  Immaculately  placed for future glory.  Surely one of the great Coonawarra Cabernets.  98

1992
How do you follow that pair?  Sadly, with a cold and unhappy vintage.  Licorice, herbal notes, furry skin characters.  A burly, slightly clunky style, without much length and not really in balance.  Pleasant flavors but not enough to save it.  87

1993
Dry herbs, florals, a foresty note, but a pleasing ripeness.  Notable acidity here.  Firm tannins.  It has a foursquare structure, though it seems to have yielded a little in the time between events.  A solid effort that will be around for many years.  One we probably have not seen the best of yet.  89

1994
Black fruits, dark chocolate notes. Firm, solid, with good intensity.  Some oak.  A mid-length wine.  A good, not great, Black Label, but it appears to have time ahead.  The winemaking team noted that it had been a favorite in its youth, but it was not showing quite so well these days.  88

1995
With coffee and liquorice, it looks poised for a long life.  A slightly smoky note and perhaps a little much emphasis on the oak.  Fine now and should last,  drunk fairly soon.  91

1996 (bottle and magnum)
A near-legendary vintage.  Conventional wisdom suggests that after 20 years the magnum should be the preferred option.  It was a fascinating comparison.  The bottle opened nicely, with lovely aromas, not as deep and brooding as some of the preceding wines and with more red fruit than many others.  Florals and spices emerged in a beautifully balanced wine.  Silky tannins, fine acidity, and serous complexity.  A cracker.  96

The magnum was far more muted initially.  Dry herbs and seemingly a little more rustic.  Built for the long haul.  Naturally, very similar to the bottle, but not as generous or approachable today.  Time in the glass helped, and one feels that in another decade, it will be the superior format.  94

How many of theses are in your cellar. Tell us about them.

We conclude this special 6 part series on Wynns Coonawarra and its Black label Cabernet in the next post with the tasting notes between 1997 – 2015.

In part 3 of this special 6 part series on Wynn’s Black label Cabernet we traced the vineyard production across the decades.  

Now in part 4 here are the tasting notes 1954 – 1975. Score out of 100 follow each of the tasting notes of each vintage. 

Look for years you have in your cellar.

1954
This had been a revelation at the 50th tasting and proved so again at the 60th anniversary  even though it is now coming to the end of its life. Very mature yet with some depth.  Beef stock and dusty earth notes with the palate, even exhibiting a little chocolate.  It did fade rather quickly in the glass, but while it was with us, amazing old wine.  89

1955  (Cabernet/Shiraz)
One of the duds of the tasting.  Deep color, but after that, dull, short, and seemingly impacted by a substandard cork. Past.

1956  (Cabernet/Shiraz)
A complete and complex wine.  Dark fruits, spices, light chocolate dusting.  Fine tannin’s and offering ideal balance for such an old wine.  There is good length, but at the very end, a slight stewed/sour-fruit note and even a hint of mint.  90

1957
Opening with a delightfully alluring aroma, gentle florals, choc-mint and earthy notes.  Reasonable length, with quite fine tannins, but it did not maintain the very intensity throughout and did fade.  88

1958
Dark colors with a brown/teak edge.  This is a traditional old-fashioned Aussie-style red, a touch porty.  Chocolate and hazelnut notes.  Some plushness, but it did become tough going and a little chunky. Nose promised more than the palate delivered.  88

1959
This was not just the wine of the decade but one of the best at the 60th vertical. Dry herbs, animal hides, red fruits, though  past any primary characters.  A lovely dusty, smokey note.  Some sweetness remains on the palate, which moves to chocolate and coffee characters.  Still offers power and length.  97

1960
It drank well at the earlier 50th tasting but really shone here.  Lovely aromas, a mature wine but very much alive.  A refined, elegant style, and one with complexity. Choc/cherry notes, tobacco leaf, dry herbs.  A very, very long finish, during which it maintained its intensity.  Glorious stuff.  93

1962
First impression was that it did not have quite the same class as 1960, but with time in the glass it became more and more intriguing.  Earth, forest notes, handfuls of dirt, dry vegetation, old cigars and animal skins.  Good length  to a slightly puckering finish.  94

1964
Quite fleshy and generous.  There is mint here.  Dry herbs, prunes, oriental spices, and a stone-fruit character more akin to Cote Rotie.  Over time,  peaches-and-apricot character emerged. Maintained both its intensity and its elegance. But anyone blessed with a bottle, drink it shortly after opening and you will be delighted.  90

1965
There is a degree of plushness here, with notes of bananas, smokiness, stewed plums.  It is too short, falling over quite quickly, but before then it shows no real varietal or regional character, it drinks nicely.  Just don’t wait around. 86

1966 (magnum)
Mature rim surrounds dark red hues.  Cassis, dark berry notes, spices, hints of dark chocolate.  All rather thrilling.  This is an impeccably balanced wine, completely comfortable.  Good length and grip. It continued to improve in the glass for a considerable period. 96

1967
Appealing coffee-bean notes, dark fruits, and complexity.  Nicely balanced and well focused.  It opens with good length and intensity and, drunk immediately, would definitely impress.  But with time in the glass, it did start to fade rather quickly. 90

1968
Some lovely truffley, fungal notes, a hint of mint, coffee beans, roast meats, an aroma one might encounter the moment you step through the door of your favorite delicatessen.  Balance, yes, but what impresses is the real elegance of the wine. Impressive length.  A wine that, despite its age, would seem to have a future. 95

1969 Cabernet Hermitage
This wine was the forerunner to the Red Stripe red, and while the ’68 may have transformed opinions of it, not so here.  Both were tired, a touch of oxidation.  There were some dark, raisiny notes, dark chocolate, but it faded quickly.  No finish.  82

1970
A wine that comes across as mature in every way. And  she does not have long.  Some cloves, fungal notes, meaty touches.  This is pleasant at best.  87

1971
A vintage famous for producing one of the all-time great Granges, and it seems quality was wide spread that year.  A wine that shone at both the 50^th and 60^th tastings.  Depth of color, seamless, plush, and firmly balanced.  Cassis and cigar box  notes.  Concentration, power, and a real future.  94

 1972
A curious wine –  all over the place.  Soy sauce, mushrooms, sarsaparilla, even a caramel note.  Some grip but a hot finish.  Some appealing flavors, but not the requisite balance.  87

1973
Inevitably, some wines were going to be well past their best, and this was one of them.  Comfortable as old slippers and quite mature, but a softer style that faded a little too quickly. Forgettable.  Past 

1974
This brings to a close a trio of vintages that were considered undistinguished at best.  This wine lacked focus.  An older and slightly dilute wine that drifted away before one had much of a chance to get to know it. Finishes with a slight vegetal note,  Past

1975
The 1970’s took a turn for the better with this vintage. Mature color and with aromas of boot leather and oriental spices.  Christmas cake, tobacco leaf, a hint of chocolate, and some cigar-box notes.  Seamless, with good concentration.  A lovely, seemingly creamy texture.  Fine tannins. Impressive wine that got better and better.  94

 In part 5 review the tasting notes of vintages 1976 – 1997.

In part 2 we looked at the early history of Wynns Coonawarra Estate. In this segment we review the vineyard across the decades.

PART 3.

The 1950s  Not only was 1954 the first vintage, but it was also the year that the Johnson Vineyard was planted, now the oldest-surviving Cabernet vineyard in Coonawarra.

The ‘50s were tough going – only one other winery and not a single wine labelled Coonawarra, until Wynns adopted the region’s name.  Ian Hickinbotham, the first winemaker described the region at the time as “the stink of failure”.  In those days, much of the transport was still by bullocks.

Vintage extended for a longer period back then (thank climate change), meaning that with a single picking, a mix of unripe, ripe, and overripe grapes arrived at the winery.  Picking is much more selective these days. The early Wynns winemakers were some of the first winemakers in the world to understand malolactic fermentation.  (Ray Beckwith at Penfold’s was arguably the first).  It has often been said that without Beckwith, there would never have been Grange.)

There were some good vintages in the ‘50s – 1954, 1955, and 1959 especially, although both times the ’55 fell well short.  1957 was the coldest growing season in 60 years. 1954 showed superbly on both occasions, while 1959 was sublime at the 60^th, far better than a decade earlier. In part 4 you can check out the tasting notes of these wines tasted in 2018.

The 1960s   Neither 1961 (frost) nor 1963 (wet) were made, though interestingly, Mildara’s Coonawarra Cabernet from 1963 is a legendary wine that had been nicknamed “Peppermint Patty.” The decade was warmer than the ‘50s but cooler than subsequent decades.  It was a decade when Wynns took the opportunity to buy as much vineyard land as they could – there were still only the two wineries in the district.  There was still no electricity at the winery.  1968 is thought to be the first vintage to see the use of American oak.  At the time, the best years were considered to be 1960, 1966 and 1967.

What was curious about this decade was that at the tasting, (see part 4), these wines changed far more in glass than those from either the ‘50s or 70’s.

The 1970s  This was the wettest decade of the lot, and Wynns was working with only young vineyards, because much of the land purchased during the expansion of the ‘60s was coming into production.  Wynns now had 214 ha (530 acres) of which 42 percent was Cabernet.  Far too many wines were decidedly green. Show judges had seen plenty of green Bordeaux around this time and, for reasons best known to themselves, decided this must be the future, and so grapes were often picked while unripe, herbaceous being the order of the day.

Leafy canopies, with the onset of mechanical harvesting in 1974, did not help.  Machine pruning followed in 1979.  A white-wine boom meant much of the famed terra rossa was grafted over to whites – at this time, 50 percent of it was planted to Riesling. In the winery, stainless-steel fermenting tanks had arrived, and puncheons were used for aging.  Small oak was not introduced until 1985, thanks to it’s winemaker at that time John Wade.  One ray of sunshine was the 1976 winning the Jimmy Watson Trophy, the first time a Coonawarra wine achieved the feat.  1970, 1971, 1975, 1976, and 1978 were all considered good years.

The 1980s  Things were improving as many vines started reaching maturity.  Wynns purchased another 200 ha (500 acres), while Penfold’s purchased Wynns (and they have formed part of the corporate dance through a series of owners ever since).  A visit by UK Masters of Wine  considered to have such a positive impact on the UK market for Australian wineries, took place in 1985, helping to give the region an international focus.

Use of smaller barrels and barrel fermentation increased, and much greater emphasis was placed on pH.  This was the decade when Wynns finally got serious about viticulture.  1980, 1986, and 1988 were considered the top years.  1982 was special as well, and even the “biblical year” of 1983 performed admirably – biblical due to pretty much everything being thrown at it, notably horrendous bushfires, tornadoes, and floods.

 The 1990s  The pendulum had swung, and the demand was for more full-bodied reds – indeed, Sue Hodder who took over in 1993 noticed that when she first took over from Douglas, she felt obligated to make monsters.  Not really Coonawarra’s thing, but winemakers did their best to comply.  Wynns purchased another 300 ha (750 acres) in 1993 and, by 1996, boasted 1,275 ha (3,150 acres) which 428 ha (1,050 acres) were Cabernet.

The 1998 label

Winery capacity was increased to the extent that they could store 2,000 barrels and had capacity for 3,400 tons on skins.  Yields varied between 3 and 6-7 tons per hectare.  Sue believes four to six is ideal.  In the early part of the decade, some American oak was still being used.  By the end, between 20 percent and 25 percent of the wine saw new oak barrels.  Peter Douglas would argue that 1990 was the vintage of the century, though plenty would make that claim for 1991. 1996, 1998, and 1999 were all superb too.  1995 was considered the least good year of the decade, but even it has more than outperformed the hype.

By 1998, Wynns was producing 80,000 cases of Black Label Cabernet, though that number has decreased in recent years, depending on the vintage.  Unfortunately, Wynns is a little less forthcoming with some information than they once were – a sign of the times?

The 2000s and on  Much of the work done during this period has been in the vineyards, and it showed in the wines, with this bracket the finest of the tasting. (I will feature the tasting notes on the 2000’s in part 6). Balance is the key, and it is what the team seeks, with the proviso that “vintage trumps everything.”  Much work has been done on the characters derived from individual vineyards, not least with the release of the Single Vineyard Series, which varies from year to year, depending on vineyard performance.  The average age of vines is around 30 years.

There were some numerous good vintages throughout this period, or perhaps work in the vineyard and winery have simply meant that poor ones are far less likely to slip through.  In days gone by, one suspects they would never have attempted a wine from the horrible 2011, but they actually made an amazing release.  The best? 2004, ’06, ’08, ’10, ’12, ’14, and finally cracking the even-year curse, 2015.

Black Label remains Wynns most important wine and surely the most important wine from Coonawarra. I believe many would argue it is the most important Cabernet in Australia.  It is also a serious contender for best bargain to be found anywhere.  Recommended retail in Australia is A$45, but can be picked up at liquor chains for under $30 per bottle.

.The winemakers
1951-53 Ian Hickinbotham
1954-58 Norm Walker
1961-68 Jock Redman
1971-77 Ken Ward
1978-85 John Wade
1986-97 Peter Douglas
1989-95 Peter Bissell
1993-present Sue Hodder
1998-present Sarah Pidgeon

 In part 4 we start the tasting notes of Wynns Black Label between  1954 – 1975 I hope you have some of these gems in your cellar!  

If you do then these are the ultimate tasting notes done in 2018.

In part one of this special series we looked at the early history of Coonawarra. In this post we briefly look at the early history of Wynn’s Coonawarra Estate.  

PART TWO

When 21-year-old Shlomo Weintraub fled Russian-occupied Poland for Australia, just before World War 1, it is doubtful anyone could have guessed how important he would be to the Australian wine industry.  If the name Redman is a nice coincidence for a winemaker, Shlomo was even more blessed: Weintraub is the German word for wine grape.  Shortly after arriving, however, Shlomo changed his name to Samuel Wynn, apparently not realizing that wynn was an Old English word for wine.

Fast-forward many years, and we find Samuel running a wine bar in Melbourne, where he regularly served Coonawarra red – purchased via Woodley’s, who bottled some of the Redmans’ wine under the St Adele label and sold the rest on to customers – so he knew the region’s potential.

Samual Wynn aged 28

The media-friendly story was that Samuel, purchased the Estate to save the iconic buildings and vineyards, but  Patricia Wynn, the widow of David Wynn, Samuel’s son (yet another to make an extraordinary contribution to the development of the region), believes that is not so.

Patricia claimed that Samuel was strongly opposed to the purchase and that it was David who was the driving force: “Sammy was violently against it.  David had a will of iron, and he fought his father tooth and nail.  He was convinced of the future of wine in Coonawarra.”

The fact that David immediately took over the reins supports this.  Straightaway he appointed another famous name in Australian wine making, Ian Hickingbotham, as winemaker/manager.

Ian’s view of David’s decision to purchase the estate was that it was “courageous,” though at the time he did have to fly to Melbourne to help convince David to buy it.

David also received a telegram from his father: “Admire your courage.”  Len Evans described David as “the man who really put Coonawarra on the map. Ian, in his book Australian Plonky, suggests that the David/Samuel debate may have been more about price with David upping the offer without consulting Samuel.

Ian describes his innovative wine making in some depth in the book, as well as including anecdotes such as the local agent describing a stockman’s dinner with a a horse’s hoof protruding from the pot.

The first Wynns wine was a 1952 claret, again Shiraz, made with no electricity, rather a basic generator, and steam-driven pumps.  Pruning was done by Ian’s mates from the local footy club.  This was the time when the famous label was designed by Richard Beck.  Norm Walker, yet another luminary in the Aussie wine firmament, took over in 1954 and made the first Wynns Coonawarra Cabernet, from 7 tons purchased from local growers.  The grapes were bought from a local Italian share farming family, who sold Wynns 300 tons but only 7 tons were Cab.

There was also a claret and a Hermitage from that vintage, both likely to be all or mostly Shiraz.  In those days, unfinished wines were the norm for wine shows, and Walker had two batches of his first Cabernet in oak (1000-gallon vats).  Unsure of which way to go, he entered both in the Adelaide show Claret Class, winning first and second prize.

The 1955 and 1956 releases were both blends, 80 percent Cabernet and 20 percent shiraz, before the wine reverted to 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon – the only exception since then being the 1969, a Cabernet Hermitage.  In those days, the black label was actually white.  It was only in 1965 that the move to the traditional black was made.  (It was also with this wine that the label recorded the variety as Cabernet Sauvignon, rather than Cabernet.) 

In part three of this special series lets check out the various eras of Wynn’s Black Label Cabernet production.

In celebration of Wynnsday celebrated on the first Wednesday each year in August, enjoy a six part series tracing the history, the eras and tasting notes on Wynns Coonawarra flagship Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon.

PART ONE

I enjoyed a great article in Wine Spectator magazine about Wynns Coonawarra and agree with them that Wynn’s is without question the most important winery in Coonawarra.   While the John Riddoch Cabernet and Michael Shiraz are supposedly its prestige release,   I believe it is its Black Label Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon that is its most recognised and most loved wine in Australia.

It’s always excellent value, and there can hardly be a serious cellar in Australia without a few vintages tucked away.  It was first made in 1954 and last year saw the 60^th release with the 2015 vintage.  To celebrate the occasion, Wynns held an extraordinary tasting, showing every Black Label ever made — all 60!  They had done a similar exercise to celebrate 50 vintages in 2004. We will look at that in parts 4, 5 and 6 of this special series.

 
But first, in this part lets look at the history of the region itself.
 Coonawarra itself consists some 5,700 ha (14,000 acres). It sits on a long, thin, very, very flat cigar-shaped piece of rich red terra rossa soil. It is one of the very few wine regions on the world that is not, specifically a tourist destination. You go to Coonawarra to taste the wines. It is also cold (or “cool to moderate”). The climate is actually quite similar to that of Bordeaux – just a little warmer and with less rain during the growing season.

It is the terra rossa soil that has made the region famous.  The strip, a little under 30 km long and 2 km wide, is ideally suited to Cabernet. The soil sits on a bed of porous limestone, which assists with winter drainage and summer moisture retention. Located in the very southeastern part of South Australia, it is nearly equal distance between Melbourne and Adelaide.

In 1852, a young Scot named John Riddoch traveled to the goldfields of Victoria.  He soon realised that there was far more money to be made in providing goods and services to the miners.  Within a decade, he had left the goldfields with his profits and purchased a large sheep property near Penola in South Australia, called Yallum Estate.

Wool prices in America were booming, but Riddoch had always believed his property was suitable for more than sheep. In 1890 he formed the Penola Fruit Company.  The following year, Riddoch had 400 ha (1000 acres) of the property surveyed into blocks of between 10 ha and 50 ha (25-125 acres) and he planted his first vines.  He planted mostly Shiraz with some Cabernet. He later added a little Malbec and some Pinot Noir.

1895 saw the first Coonawarra vintage, just over 8,000 litres. Riddoch wanted to make a statement with his winery, so in 1897 he had built what has become one of the most iconic sights in Australia – the unmistakable treble-gabled limestone cellars that have since adorned the label of many hundreds of thousands Wynns labels and still stand proudly as a symbol of the region. (see left).

At the time, they were intended to hold around 350,000 litres. Bizarrely, the vines in front of them were not Cabernet; they are not even red.  Rather, they were Pedro Ximenez, planted in 1917, an era when table wines had fallen out of favour.  Vintage in 1897 was around 90,000 litres.

Riddoch suggested the town change its name to Coonawarra, and the company did as well, becoming Coonawarra Fruit and Vine Growers’ Association.  Things were going well, and the leading local wine-growing magazine of the day reported that “Coonawarra claret is now being drunk throughout the district and it has ousted other brands.”  Sample consignments were sent to the UK.  The following year, Riddoch employed a full-time winemaker, Ewen McBain, who had graduated from Roseworthy College, established in 1883.

The tide turned a few years later. Riddoch passed away in 1901. Federation meant the removal of trade barriers between the colonies, now states.  Other regions, better known and long established were more competitive.  Coonawarra’s isolation has always been a problem when trying to attract workers and it was even worse back then.  The one positive for the region was that in 1901, a 14 year-old boy named Bill Redman started working at the winery.

Various wars did not help Coonawarra’s labour plight.  Desperate for a solution, Riddoch’s executors did the only thing they could:  they turned the extensive stock of fine but ultimately unsalable wine into brandy.  The distillery’s chimney still stands next to the winery today.

Chateau Tanunda, from the Barossa Valley, purchased the place to continue the distillation.  They, in turn, were taken over in 1921 by Milne & Co.  Until the mid-1940’s, almost all the grapes went to distillation, but not before a grape glut in the 1930’s led to a scheme whereby the government offered growers a subsidy to rip up their vines and convert their property into dairy farms.  By the end of the decade, only 240 ha (600 acres) of vines remained.

One winery from the region was attempting to hold the fort during this period —Woodley’s St Adele Claret— which was enjoyed both domestically and overseas, but a valiant search of the label would have told the drinkers of the day nothing at all about its origins.  Coonawarra was not mentioned.  Woodley’s played an important role in the region’s revival, much more so than most wine lovers might realise, for it was a man from Woodley’s who was to turn around the fortunes of Wynns and Coonawarra as a whole.

Tony Nelson, an Austrian-trained winemaker (his name having been anglicised), worked at Woodley’s winery in the foothills of the Adelaide Hills from 1940.  In 1946, for 9000 pounds he purchased the old Riddoch winery and accompanying 55 ha (136 acres) or more and renamed them Chateau Comaum.

The Redmans continued to work their own vineyards and winery but also assisted Nelson, producing the only table made wine in Coonawarra –  Redman’s Shiraz, mostly purchased in bulk by Woodley’s.  Finally, in 1951, they left to concentrate on their own wines (at the neatly names Rouge Homme winery), and Nelson was forced to put the property back on the market.

And so, in 1951, for the price of 22,000 pounds, the Melbourne-based wine merchant S.Wynn & Co purchased the old winery, cellars, distillery, 54 ha (133 acres) of vines, and 90 ha (222 acres) of pasture.  Australian wine would be forever changed.  At this time, Wynnes Coonawarra Estate (the first Australian winery to use the term “estate”), as it became known, was the only winery in the region other than the small operation at Rouge Homme.

In part two of this series lets look at the early history of Wynns Coonawarra Estate