Wynns Black Label Cabernet

Wynns “Black Label” Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, Australia – LCBO General List $27.95

I often wish that we saw a few more Coonawarra Cabernets in the stores. They have an undeniable uniqueness; an aromatic disposition that leaves one in no doubt as to their origin, and a very particular structure that speaks volumes about the small region’s famed red soils, arguably more so than any other Australian terroir.  Which brings me to this new Vintages Essential (Read: Posh General List) at the good old LCBO…

Winemaker Sue Hodder, no stranger to the pages of Good Food Revolution, has in this bottling of Wynns Black Label encapsulated much of what makes Coonawarra so special for me. In the glass you’ll find bags and bags of juicy ripe blackcurrants, so much so that you’ll realise that you had actually forgotten just how good that exuberant fruit profile can be when it’s done correctly. However, behind this undeniably alluring black fruit you’ll discover the minutiae that lift this wine far above the ordinary: Spicy cedar, cigar box, crushed mint leaf, liquorice root, and more minerality than I have seen in an Australian red wine in quite some time. As the bouquet impresses, so does the palate. The wine exhibits an extremely well-defined structure, with fine yet firm tannins, and juicy, raspy blackcurrant acidity, wrapping up with an almost eternally long-lasting finish. All in all, a really smashing wine, and a superb value at $28.

Writing this I find myself craving roast lamb… and it’s only 10am…

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Edinburgh-born/Toronto-based Sommelier, consultant, writer, judge, and educator Jamie Drummond is the Director of Programs/Editor of Good Food Revolution… And he thinks that this is a really cracking addition to the Vintages Essentials/Posh General List.