The Wynns’ Single Vineyard Concept
Wynns Coonawarra Estate is the signature brand of Coonawarra, Australia’s most respected cabernet-producing region. Its extensive vineyard holdings along the Coonawarra strip of terra rossa establish it as the most significant resource of cabernet sauvignon in Australia. In having access to a large area of top-class cabernet-dominant vineyard over which it has full control, Wynns is also the only Australian winery able to be compared to the great chateaux of Bordeaux – in terms of quality, scale and even style. It is no ordinary estate.
Over five decades Wynns has developed its reputation on the strength and consistency of its estate-based wines such as the Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon and since 1982 the John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon. Typically blended to maintain style and quality throughout changes in vintage, their makers have historically been able to alter the proportions of contributions from different parts of the Coonawarra Estate in a response to changing vintage conditions. While vintage variation is clearly evident throughout the history of Wynns’ wine, the essential characteristics that typify the company’s historic labels are generally evident from season to season. This is one of the reasons that the most collected cabernet sauvignon in Australia comes from Wynns Coonawarra Estate.
In an estate as large and as diverse as Wynns Coonawarra, whose vineyards extend as far as 16 km apart from north to south, it’s inevitable that differences between sites will gradually emerge – despite the fact that to most people Coonawarra appears as consistently flat and featureless as a billiard table.
The truth is that appearances can be deceptive, and that by digging deep into the soil profile some startling discoveries can be made. Under the eye of viticultural custodian Allen Jenkins, the various sites comprising Wynns Coonawarra Estate have been analysed, above and below the surface, like few others on Planet Earth. To some extent the research has simply confirmed and given scientific meat to what the winemaking team, headed by Sue Hodder since 1998, has anecdotally understood for decades. Significantly, however, it has also provided a basis for further on-site experimentation and refinement in the wines that result.
Perhaps the most startling discovery of all has been that the tiny ‘ridges’ in Coonawarra – even the locals would hesitate before calling them hills – do impact significantly on viticulture. Despite the fact that along the entire 21 km strip of Coonawarra the land falls by just 12-13 metres in total, Jenkins’ team discovered by tracking temperatures within vine canopies over a complete growing season that for every drop of just one metre in altitude, the average temperature falls by 0.8o Centigrade. That’s due entirely to the fact that cool air, heavier than warmer air, moves unimpeded by the very low ground cover across Coonawarra down to the lower points. And that’s why the relatively ‘high’ vineyards around the southerly V&A Lane segment of the region ripen an entire two weeks ahead of those in the more northerly but marginally lower Alexanders segment, even though the region typically and logically becomes warmer as you travel from south to north – by 0.8o Centigrade per km on average. So far from being the uniform, monotonous landscape it might appear as you drive through it at 100kph, Coonawarra is actually surprisingly diverse. And that’s before you start digging holes…
Look under the surface of Coonawarra and more differences become apparent. It’s well known that towards the west of the region the terra rossa gives way to a heavier black clay that is rather less favourable towards its red specialties of cabernet and shiraz. Perhaps less well known is that thanks to factors like the different depths of terra rossa, varying degrees of hardness of the calcrete layer between the terra rossa and the underlying limestone and variations evident in the hardness of the limestone itself, grapevine roots will grow as deep as they are permitted, or else are forced to grow more shallow and sideways between the rows.
Now let’s look above the ground. Wynns is fortunate to own a number of Coonawarra’s most important vineyards – from the perspectives of vine age as well as the quality and integrity of the ‘heritage’ genetic material of the region’s original plantings. Most of these significant vineyards have been renovated as part of a program that commenced in 2002, a process that has yielded truly remarkable results. Many old vines were essentially lopped at about 60 cm from ground level, with a single shoot being trained back upwards to the trellis wires to create a new canopy. ‘Missing’ vines have been replaced by careful selections from the best of the original old genetic material, preserving and also refining the vineyards and their heritage.
It was only natural that around the time of the vineyard restoration the winemaking and viticultural teams would pay more attention than ever before to the individual qualities and characteristics of the multitude of different vineyard blocks before them, especially those that had traditionally been suppliers of some of the estate’s finest fruit. An idea slowly took shape: might it be possible to isolate a parcel from a key Wynns Coonawarra Estate vineyard in any given vintage that captured a special, faithful expression of its unique terroir, keeping it separate and eventually bottling it under a series of one-off labels? Could this be achieved without compromising the classic Wynns reds and their enduring philosophy?
History now confirms that the answer to both questions is yes. The outcome is this series of Single Vineyard wines from Wynns.
None of the wines that now comprise this collection could have been possible were it not for the winery’s new-found ability to handle small individual parcels with small fermenters and maturation vessels, essential to the making of these separate batches, each of which are made in almost a micro-scale for this operation. The winemakers can now more easily push the limits in the take more risks in the vineyards and winery – from harvesting earlier to treating individual fermentations with different degrees of skin contact, maceration technique and temperature. All of which contribute character, diversity and ultimately, experience.
Sarah Pidgeon, Wynns Winemaker, describes the single vineyard wines as ‘our vehicle to keep experimenting and show what we can do with this beautiful fruit’. This series is actually a winemaker’s dream. They’re not locked into any expectation of style, they’re able to pick and choose what is generally a single special wine from any given season and what they choose and how they handle it is entirely up to their own convictions teamed up with those of Viticulturist Allen Jenkins. All the while, the marketing department is happy to keep its distance.
From such a large and special resource, how do Wynns select the special sites for this series? According to Allen Jenkins, whose infectious curiosity towards wine embodies the modern viticulturist, the six sites that have been isolated to date for this honour are ‘mainly old vineyards that have delivered amazing fruit without really receiving anything special from us.’ In certain years they produce fruit of rare difference and uniqueness – it’s the fruit flavours and wine quality that lead the selections made by the winemakers, he says.
Typically, there’s only a single individual block release from any given year and seasonal influences are the most powerful factor in the ultimate choice of what fruit from which vineyard ends up under one of these labels. ‘Nature can deliver outcomes that continually surprise’, says Jenkins. ‘We can set about to manage a vineyard the best way we can, but in the end its about how we handle chaos through different activities and strategies. Even in a tough season there will be something that will work for us.’
To Jenkins it’s important that the single vineyard wines focus so strongly on the property’s historical legacy of original source vines. ‘Sometimes it’s just sheer good luck that the Wynn family planted these particular vines where they did’, he says. ‘But once our winemakers draw out attention to a particular block for a single vineyard wine we can apply the blowtorch to it in terms of researching and understanding the block, helping the winemakers to extract more complexity and character from it, helping them to identify what’s different.’
‘We might then decide to prune or crop at different levels and have different parcels ripening at different times under different regimes of water stress or even compost. We could perhaps load up some vines with large crop that we thin later. Today we’re not short of options to achieve this.’
The entire production team embrace the single vineyard series as a vehicle for innovation and experimentation. Says Sarah Pidgeon: ‘Something like additional skin contact might work in strong years as we might crack tannin structure into a different spectrum that people might enjoy. Or else we might want to move into more savoury styles. All the while we want to make sure these wines are unique and have their own ideas.’
Alex 88 Cabernet Sauvignon
The Alexanders section of Coonawarra lies just to the north of the winery and Coonawarra township itself. Here the most significant impact on timing of ripening and harvest is its combination of elevation and latitude. Alex 88 is a single vineyard of 15 ha planted to a range of modern and traditional clones of cabernet sauvignon in 1988, hence its name. Unlike most vineyards in the region, its row orientation is east-west. Being 3 metres lower than the more southerly V&A Lane section, it ripens relatively late – about 2-3 weeks later.
The Alex 88 vineyard actually ripens 1-2 weeks later than the neighbouring Alex 84 (planted four years earlier in 1984), which is 1-2 metres on average higher than Alex 88. Such are the minutiae that so profoundly affect factors like harvest timing, which in reality impacts so strongly on quality.
Alex 88 is underpinned by a harder than usual layer of limestone which tends to force the vine roots to spread out laterally between the rows. Its clonal mix enables the team to isolate individual parcels of fruit, many of which are harvested and processed separately. ‘We’re planning for diversity’, says Viticulturist Allen Jenkins. ‘As long as you can keep track of it all!’ This diversity is enhanced by the existence of three different soil types beneath the vineyard, from the red terra rossa ridge to browner soils and light brown-grey clays. Unusually, the fruit flavour and tannin profiles at Alex 88 transition quickly and evenly from a green spectrum to ripe in a single day.
The role played by the Alexanders vineyards in wines like the Black Label and John Riddoch in particular is to provide density and backbone. Sarah Pidgeon says the long, slow ripening process at Alex 88 is critical to develop its characteristically muscular tannins and its spectrum of dark fruit and black olive-like flavour. Sue Hodder looks for its ‘classic mint and dusty herbal notes’. Both winemakers appreciate the distinctive savoury and mineral qualities it imparts. ‘At their best, Alex 88 reds are a study in structure and tannin’, says Hodder.
Being later to ripen, Alex 88 enjoys a warmer season and its moisture-holding ability buffers it from stress in drier years better than most. The two releases of the Alex 88 Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon have been the gravelly 2006 vintage from a drier season and the superlative slatey and savoury 2010 vintage from a benchmark warmer vintage.
Davis Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
It’s no coincidence that the most treasured cabernet vineyard in the entire Wynns Coonawarra Estate is also its smallest, but that’s not the only thing that makes the Davis Vineyard something special. This tiny 2.5 ha block opposite Johnson’s was planted in 1957 and was fully renovated in 2002. It’s home to some of the most important heritage selections on the entire estate and is the source of much of Wynns’ replanting material.
Planted on shallow red soils over impenetrable calcrete, the vines are vigorous enough not to need any fruit positioning wires – their shoots stand upright naturally. It’s Sue Hodder’s favourite vineyard and is responsible for some of the most distinctive, signature level cabernet in Australia. Describing its cabernet as ‘deeply flavoured, laced with dark coffee character with dark cherries; a more savoury and fine-grained cabernet’, Hodder says that it really shines in strong vintages and is a regular contributor to the John Riddoch flagship. ‘Its weight really depends on the quality of the year, the Spring, the rainfall and the growing season’, she says.
‘It’s a handkerchief of a vineyard, the ultimate one-shot site’, says Sarah Pidgeon. ‘We love the challenge it represents since we can’t get it right every year. The shallow soils make it trickier and vulnerable to stress. But we try to capture the silkiness it can deliver.’
Glengyle Cabernet Sauvignon
Close to the V&A section of Coonawarra, Glengyle is an early site on a warmer, higher ridge that frequently presents as the first cabernet harvested by the Wynns team. One of the earliest sections of vineyard chosen for Wynns’ renovation process was the eastern side of the Glengyle block. Blessed with deep soil for Coonawarra – around one metre in depth – above a hard layer of calcrete, the entire vineyard is now fully renovated and has steadily returned to top form, again producing cabernet of genuine style and distinction.
Sue Hodder describes its wine as ‘textbook cabernet – laced with cassis, and faintly leafy black olive character’. Sarah Pidgeon is attracted to ‘the brightness and iridescence that result from the early ripening. ‘Its wine captures people’, she says. Fellow Winemaker Luke Skeer enjoys the ‘purity’ of the wine’s expression.
Thanks to the fact that when Wynns came into possession of the vineyard it still had old-fashioned overhead frost protection sprinklers it managed to avoid the frosts – and there were over 30 in a row – that wiped out half the fruit from Coonawarra’s 2007 vintage. Allen Jenkins remembers that after a warm and bountiful flowering there was so much fruit set at Glengyle that he and his team actually thinned the bunches prior to the 2007 season, reducing the future crop load to the right level. There was no John Riddoch from 2007, but the Glengyle was rated the company’s top red for the year. It’s still in excellent shape.
You can purchase the stunning 2021 vintage by clicking here.
Harold Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
The Wynns winemaking and vineyard teams have a term – ‘skinny old guys’ – which they apply to some of their oldest, hardest-working vines. Nowhere does this concept apply more than to the Harold Vineyard.
Located on the site of the original 7.3 ha vineyard developed in 1892 by Edwin Stoney that was later ripped out during the Great Depression, this block was bought by Wynns from Harold Childs, after whom it is now named. Interestingly, it was in Stoney’s home on the property that the historic meeting on August 9, 1897 of the Penola Fruit Colonists’ Association agreed to name the new township and surrounding settlement as ‘Coonawarra’.
Harold is a tough old block on a terra rossa ridge that only received its drip irrigation during recent droughts after fears that water stress was beginning to kill its vines. Since 2002 the site has been composted and retrained in three separate stages, and it has since made a huge contribution to Wynns’ premier labels. It now ripens fruit evenly, with a pleasing purity.
Sue Hodder describes Harold’s cabernet as ‘austere, linear and generally not particularly plush’. The small old vines are some of the estate’s first to be harvested and their wines have a dark-fruited, sinewy quality that in those seasons that enable the development of sufficiently generous fruit can achieve a particularly rewarding, fine and natural balance.
Johnson’s Block Shiraz Cabernet
There’s perhaps no vineyard in Coonawarra that provides a greater sense of site and place than the famous Johnson’s Block, a treasury of heritage vines and an invaluable resource of quality and distinction.
This ancient vineyard sited towards the railway line that borders the west of Wynn’s Coonawarra holdings features traditional terra rossa soils in its easterly component, but flows towards a heavier, darker soil along the west. It’s a tough, dryland vineyard with 30-40 cm of terra rossa soil over hard, impenetrable calcrete, while the darker westerly soils are around a metre deep.
Planted to shiraz in 1925 – initially for distillation – and cabernet sauvignon in 1954, it would perhaps be a more vigorous vineyard but for the age of its elderly vines. The Johnson’s cabernet sauvignon is the oldest in all Coonawarra, and its assumed it was sourced from other Wynns plantings in the region that have since been removed.
While Johnson’s is today managed with a lot of compost, its vines have to battle through heatwaves on their own. The low-yielding cabernet ripens relatively early, enabling it to be harvested alongside the shiraz, providing the winemakers with the option of co-fermenting the two varieties. Cabernet yields a paltry 2 tonners per hectare, while shiraz delivers around 5-6 tonnes. In a normal season there’s enough time for the vineyard to be harvested twice, providing the winemakers with an additional source of complexity and character.
Sue Hodder says that sometimes the vineyard’s own distinctive floral perfume, plus its dark and red cherry characters are so emphatic that it’s actually difficult to pick apart the cabernet sauvignon and shiraz fruit. Its wines are typically structured, but with the fineness of tannin that comes with significant vine age. Indeed, the age of its vines are perhaps more important than any other aspect of this vineyard.
Messenger Cabernet Sauvignon
Messenger is one of the more southerly vineyards of Wynns Coonawarra Estate whose best cabernet vines were planted in 1975. Its large trunk and root systems are embedded in faintly brown terra rossa soils and fine clays. These vines, representing around a third of the vineyard, produce the fruit for the Messenger Cabernet Sauvignon. The higher, drier portions of the vineyard have a deeper red colour thanks to a higher oxide content. Similar in topography to the nearby vineyards of the V&A Lane section just over half way from Penola to Coonawarra, it’s even cooler than these vineyards because of its more southerly latitude. Allen Jenkins believes that because it’s surrounded by relatively high vineyards, cool air takes longer to drain away, causing its fruit to ripen later.
Being a cooler site, it tends to perform best in warmer seasons when its faintly minty red wines acquire more flesh without any loss of perfume. According to Sarah Pidgeon: ‘It’s so distinctive and beautiful when it does well, providing a prettiness and a scent that people enjoy.’
Messenger’s soils are relatively shallow and its vines have never been irrigated. Their roots are able to break through a relatively weak layer of calcrete into the chalky layers below the terra rossa, helping them thrive in drier seasons.
Typically harvested with relatively low sugar levels but retaining a fresh acidity, Messenger Cabernet Sauvignon is bright and silky, with a translucent lightness and lustre that doesn’t become skinny. Its weight is medium and its tannins fine, usually without any hardness. It can reveal a hint of eucalypt. Production is limited to around 1,200 dozen bottles.
