Wine, For The Wynn(s)

Wines from Australia can show a depth and range that compare favorably to what's being produced anywhere. Wynns "Black Label" Cabernet Sauvignon proves that. The 2010 vintage ranked as #85 in the 2013 Wine Spectator Top 100, with 91 points, and also earned 90 points from Wine Advocate. 

First produced in 1954, and widely known as ‘Black Label’, Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon has established a reputation for displaying excellent varietal and regional characteristics. A wine of style and stature, and a perennial favorite in auction circles, the ‘Black Label’ is one of Australia’s most collectable wines and Australia’s benchmark Cabernet Sauvignon. This is regularly priced at $38.99, but it's $32.99 in the Bottle Club®.   

Like Bordeaux or Rutherford in Napa, the Coonawarra terroir is vital to Wynns. And they take a really long view of things: Once the Earth’s tectonic plates had settled and its ancient oceans had receded, Coonawarra was left with that most precious of resources, a fresh water aquifer flowing beneath its limestone bedrock. This, combined with Coonawarra’s cool maritime climate provide the perfect conditions for Cabernet’s long growing season - a fact not lost on a Scotsman named John Riddoch, who planted the region’s first vineyards in 1891, before Samuel Wynn and son David continued his legacy from 1951. 

Coonawarra is on a fertile ridge that formed part of the limestone coast, a prehistoric coastline that was created over the course of twelve ice ages. Each ice age led to a retreating ocean, which in turn led to the creation of a limestone bedrock; a somewhat fortuitous foundation, whose free-draining qualities allow the vines to thrive all year round. A fact reflected in the subtle, chalky tannins of Wynns Coonawarra Estate ‘Black Label’ Cabernet Sauvignon.