Coonawarra Icon Celebrates 50 Years And More

The afternoon tasting for the trade seemed simple enough, 24 wines spanning 50 years, but just getting the old fragile wines to Vancouver from Australia has to be considered a major accomplishment.

I gave up trying to clear some recently released wine samples sent for review from Chile over the holidays. The bureaucracy, time and tax involved in clearing samples (now subject to a whopping tax that exceeds its value) are simply no longer worth the effort. How the Wynns people did it is beyond me.

But organize they did, and the single cabernet sauvignon served in three flights of eight wines afforded everyone a fascinating look at the icon red wine since its inception.

The oldest label poured, the 1954, acquitted itself well with two of the three bottles still showing some life mixing a touch of chocolate with earthy mushroom minty notes and a sense of elegance and balance that would be evident throughout the afternoon tasting.

When you think about it almost all the table wine in Australia during the 1950s was fortified -- sweet high-alcohol wines. So to make a dry wine from a single variety was a monster achievement and, to have it show up in Vancouver 51 years later, truly remarkable.

Wynns, and nearby Rouge Homme, were the only wineries that existed in Coonawarra in '54, a windswept piece of red dirt some 400 kilometres south of Adelaide. The vineyard was planted by Scottish pioneer John Riddoch back in 1891 the same time he built the estate's three-gabled winery.

In 1951, Melbourne wine merchants Samuel and David Wynn purchased Riddoch's original vineyards and winery and renamed the property Wynns Coonawarra Estate.

It turned out to be a remarkable tasting with some standouts including a still fruity 1958; a terrific 1960 which offered up the Bordelais elegance and silky structure Coonawarra cab is known for and perhaps the best of the early lot, a sweet, minty supple 1966.

The Jimmy Watson trophy-winning '76 was showing some sweetness and volatility on the nose. The best young, old wine was the 1982 -- sweet vanilla, cedar and plenty of fruit -- the perfect poster child for old Coonawarra cabernet. After that youth and power kicked in and excellent bottles were served up from '91, '94, '96, '98 and the current 2001 edition.

If there was one surprise it was the less than full turnout for the tasting. I'm not sure what the city's hot-shot sommeliers and wine buyers were up to on that rainy, January afternoon but I hope it was important. Today we look at the latest Wynns cab sold in government stores, along with competition from around the world.

Always solid could be the descriptor of the Wynns cabernet and it sure fits the Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Black Label 2001 with its tobacco, leather, mint nose and concentrated smooth, grainy textures. The flavour mixes spice, vanilla, blackberry jam and cassis all with fine intensity and balance.

Chile's Errazuriz Cabernet Sauvignon Estate 2002, grown north of Santiago in the warm eastern side of the Aconcagua Valley, has a distinctive minty, sappy, cassis nose, with smoky, peppery, minty flavours. It's firm and dry like the Wynns. So think steak or roast beef to tame its youthful tannins.

New to the market is the Thorn-Clarke Terra Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon 2002. This has an attractive smoky, blueberry, black berry, nose. The entry is soft and dry with slightly richer (Barossa) licorice, cherry, chocolate and vanilla flavours.

You don't see very many Napa Valley cabs selling for less than $25 so you may want to check out the Avalon Cabernet Sauvignon 2002. More chocolate, blackberry jam and black cherry fruit helps to tone down the spicy vanilla and tobacco leaf cabernet aromas and flavours. This is solid cabernet with lots of flavour that need a year or two to soften.

I'm still waiting for the Argentine category to take off. I'm not sure what the problem is but after you taste Valentin Bianchi Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, you may agree the country's wines are entitled to deeper scrutiny.

Look for a savoury mix of earth cassis jam, chocolate, barnyard, dill and cedar aromas followed by similar peppery, chocolate, minty, cola, vanilla flavours. Still youthful but with fine intensity. Will need two to three years to round out in the bottle.

My final pick is wine that in many ways could mirror Wynns Coonawarra cab and that is the Burrowing Owl Cabernet Sauvignon 2002. Its black olive, cassis, spicy, peppery, tobacco, roasted bell pepper nose with saddle leather undercurrents is eerily Coonawarra-like. It's moderately rich, round and supple with balanced tannins, black berry, vanilla, chocolate, peppery fruit and a minty, smoky, black olive streak in the finish. Suave, supple style with good balance and intensity and, like most young cabernet, a few tannins to shed.

Weekend Tasting: Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Black Label 2001, South Australia
Price  $21.99
UPC   12354052000
Score 90/100
Remarks    Benchmark Coonawarra cab - mint, cassis and leather.

Wine Errazuriz Cabernet Sauvignon Estate 2002, Valle de Aconcagua, Chile
Price  $14.90
UPC   089046777312
Score 85/100
Remarks    Minty, sappy, peppery, spicy fruit and youthful tannins.

Wine Thorn-Clarke Terra Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Barossa Valley, South Australia
Price  $19.99
UPC   853065000528
Score 86/100
Remarks    Soft smoky, blueberry, licorice, cherry/chocolate flavours.

Wine Avalon Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Napa Valley, California
Price  $24.99
UPC   851718000024
Score 88/100
Remarks    Blackberry, chocolate, licorice, leafy tobacco flavours.

Wine Valentin Bianchi Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Mendoza, Argentina
Price  $19.95
UPC   899911000076
Score 88/100
Remarks    Cassis jam, chocolate, pepper, mint and cola flavours.

Wine Burrowing Owl Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Oliver, Okanagan Valley, B.C.
Price  $26.90
UPC   626990004455
Score 90/100
Remarks    Suave, supple style with fine balance and intensity.