2022 Wynns Coonawarra Estate, V&A Lane Cabernet Shiraz, Coonawarra, South Australia

I recently spent an illuminating couple of hours with Sue Hodder, the chief winemaker at Wynns Coonawarra Estate.  Sue is one of the world’s most respected and knowledgeable wine luminaries, and for countless vintages she has crafted spectacular Cabernets and Shirazes with twelve-point-something-degree-alcohol levels.  Her wines are always hypnotic, exhilarating, delicious and seamless.  I feel myself wanting to drink two bottles of her wines to one bottle that weighs in with a much higher alcohol level.   Coonawarra has an extraordinary microclimate, and its proximity to the Southern Ocean tempers it, allowing those with elite viticultural practices to fully ripen their grapes with keenly fit alcohol levels. This is not a fashion or a fad, but a reality, and vignerons in this region have been doing it for a century and more.

2022 Wynns Coonawarra Estate, V & A Lane Cabernet Shiraz is one of the most delicious and engaging red wines I have tasted this year.  It is approaching the peak of its powers, and the holy amalgam of Cabernet and Shiraz in this 12.3% alcohol wine is nothing short of cosmic.  I have photographed the back label of this stunning red wine so you can see the map, the blurb, and the alcohol percentage declaration.  While this is a business-as-usual wine for Wynns, this gorgeous red wine sports a perfume, delivery, shape, size and length that every modern red wine craves.  While 90% of the wine world cannot make this style of wine without interference or manipulation, this wine and the others in the Wynns cellar are natural, limber and utterly delicious.  With spectacular blackberry bite and plum crunch, this wine is 2.2% lower in alcohol than the vast majority of its competition, making it dynamic, bright, effortless, and magnetic.  I cannot wait to pour it as one of the vanguard wines in my 100 Best Australian Wines 2026 Report, because I know several thousand people who will adore its civilised demeanour.  I don’t know what the UK price will be, but it ought to be in the region of £35, in which case it should soon be residing in decanters up and down the land!   18.5/20 (Drink now – 2033)