Wynns has always held a special place in my life of wine. For it was the 1976 “Black Label” Wynns Coonawarra Cabernet that I cut my teeth on in 1983, giving me the impetus to start my twenty-five year association with most things vinous.

Wynns make two flagship reds - their Cabernet Sauvignon - the John Riddoch, and a Shiraz - the Michael. And 1991 was an exceptional year in Coonawarra with many a heralded scribe now giving this particular year more accolades than the massively hyped (but perhaps a little more forward and riper) 1990 vintage. Over the last several years some bottles of the 1991 Riddoch I’ve tried have been utterly sublime, some a little unready, but never one anything like the bottle reviewed below. Previous bottles of the Michael from the same year had never overly impressed. In more recent years I’ve much preferred the 1990 version of this label, the inaugural re-release of the label commemorating the brilliant and quite freakish 1955 Wynns Michael Hermitage (100% Coonawarra Shiraz) - a wine, with proper provenance, still drinks incredibly well today.

So what went wrong here?

Both wines were sourced at release by the owner (a long standing and very good friend) and have been stored in what I can only describe as a relatively good “passive” cellar over the last decade or so. Seeing I know this person (and his wine inventory) very well, we have opened and shared glorious bottles from his Australian red wine collection dating as far back to the seventies and eighties with very few problems with oxidation, heat damage, senility or the like. Both wines were decanted and served double blind and drunk from Riedel Bordeaux and Shiraz glassware at about 16 degrees celcius ambient temperature on a fine, cool Autumn day.

Wynns John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon 1991 - Mature hue. Planky, volatile nose with a distinct “aged” green bean character over weak greenish fruit. Big, lumpy, varnishy oak-dominant palate over tired, fading green herbaceous fruit followed by a rather rough, soulless, hard tannic finish. Barely drinkable! 70 points. Could only think (after the wine was revealed) this was an errant bottle.

Wynns Michael Shiraz 1991 - Drunk immediately after the previous wine, this fared a little better but, unfortunately, shared several of the previos wine’s trait/faults. Colour a tad more youthful but definitely mostly brick red; fruit a little fresher and sweeter but veering to the cooked plum/pruny spectrum. Palate not so bad with jammy/pruny fruit behind a wall of high-octane/dill-infused oak; in better balance than the Riddoch, but overall a big clumsy over-extracted red revealing only a little varietal or regional character. 82 points and going nowhere in my book. My friend began asking me the usual questions/options to those of the Riddoch and the first question was grape variety …. Cabernet/Shiraz? ….. I answered “Shiraz and it’s the ‘91 Michael”.

So it’s difficult to say what caused the poor showing of the 1991 John Riddoch. Perhaps the wine was just old and tired. The Michael - pretty well as I remember it from a few years back, only worse. Whatever the problem/s, the only positive I can muster is I own not a bottle of either!

For some months now I’ve been working my way through some very smart, mostly cooler-climate Aussie Chardonnay from the 2004/2005 vintage. Apart from not yet tasting the extremely well-reviewed 2005 LEAS (my bottle of 2004 LEAS didn’t present a problem with the high alcohol problem some scribes have mentioned) and the almost-impossible-to-get Giaconda, I’ve been most impressed with the quality and direction of many of the offerings from Toolangi, Pierro, Kooyong, Penfolds etc etc.

The general thrust of what I’ve liked ……

- a continuance of a more elegant/restrained style of Chardonnay with significant, but not over-the-top, complex barrel work.

- less time spent in less new French oak (more often than not a mixture of new and one-year-old barrels).

- seemingly, less reliance on cultured yeasts, added acidity and partial/full malolactic fermentation.

- far greater cellaring potential, hence even greater things in store for lover’s of more complex bottle-aged Chardonnay.

The only criticisms I can muster amount to …..

- the persistence of a few producer’s still sealing their wine with traditional corks

- alcohol levels creeping into the 14%+ range with some heat evident in the finish and a balance issue in the longer term.

- prices for some of the cult producer’s still out of whack with quality/reality (although I well understand why they can do it)

So, after a very long absence, I’m almost convinced to get back on the Aussie Chardonnay trail and may it continue to keep progressing in its current form and direction.

Having mentioned to a few people that the Wine Lover’s Discussion Group’s doing a “wine focus” on sherry for the month of June, I’ve been surprised by many who’ve dissed this wine style carte blanche. Whilst appreciative of the individual’s right to like/dislike any particular wine style, I feel sherry gets the rough end of the pineapple, so to speak, possibly due its perception of being something cheap and nasty that old people (read streotypically old women) drink and/or is perceived by many as a salute to the past rather than a worthy part of the modern wine drinker’s armoury.

I, for one, have not had a great deal of experience with sherry, but have thoroughly enjoyed trying it from time to time, especially when presented with food or just as an aperitif.

The Seppelt Fino and Morris Amontillado I’ve opened and posted tasting notes for this exercise have greatly impressed.

Sherry desrves far greater recognition from wine lover’s; the only problem is so few people are willing to give it a chance by actually trying it, so it seems.

Readers familiar with my musings over the years will attest to my predilection for this winery. The decision to axe Dorrien as a “stand alone” label after this particular vintage has prompted a similar level of vehemence, but in this case, only dismay, for what I and many others consider to be an icon of the Australian wine industry. Since its inaugural vintage of 1971, Dorrien Cabernet represents the very best of what can be done with this grape variety in the warmer viticultural climes of the Barossa Valley. The decision from the corporate masters for Seppelt to cease production of this “jewel in the crown” and to concentrate solely on a “Victorian” portfolio has baffled me to a state of virtual senselessness. Recent alarming reports of Southcorp selling off the fortified division based at the magnificent historic Seppetsfield winery and, hence, well over a hundred years of world class winemaking heritage should only appease our concern once the operation is in safe hands, hopefully with the masterful James Godfrey still at the helm.

The 1999 Dorrien displays a vibrant deep ruby/purple with a polished hue, a bouquet featuring a gorgeous array of chocolate-coated black plums and currants, Provencale herbs, a little cedary/sandalwood character with a fair dollop of beautifully-judged toasty malty/savoury/vanillin oak providing weight and backbone. The palate has finally dropped some of its earlier oaky rawness, exhibiting a wealth of chocolatey black fruits, smooth texture, relatively understated acidity and some top-class fine-grained tannin on a protracted and most satisfying finish. A lovely wine and a fitting tribute to almost three decades of great wine folklore. 92 points. Drink now-2014.