2000 was a difficult year in Coonawarra. Even though it missed the worst of some exceptional heat that summer, which made life even more challenging in the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale, it was hard for growers to get anything approaching even ripeness in what was a substantially smaller crop than usual. One of the finest Coonawarra cabernets from that year, and a very good cabernet from any given year, is Majella’s. Ask any winemaker and chances are you’ll find agreement that the real test of their ability occurs when seasons go awry. While it’s not exactly easy to make great wine from great vintages, tough years can increase the difficulties tenfold. That’s why to many people, a tough year is a true test of a vineyard and a winemaker. Majella burst onto the Australian scene with a series of eye-catching Coonawarra reds from the 1990s, when the region enjoyed a succession of good to very good seasons. Now, with the release of the 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon, I’m satisfied that it has well and truly passed the test as a top-level red wine maker. But really, if ever there was a winery destined to make good wine, this winery is that winery. Take the best pickings from a mature and superbly sited predominantly red grape vineyard in Coonawarra, build a spacious and functional new winery building, then make several excellent vintages of first-rate red wine and sell them at a very reasonable price. Then sit back and watch the demand grow. That’s been the recipe followed by Tony and Brian (Prof) Lynn, who since the release of their 1994 Shiraz have raised the anticipated height of the Coonawarra pole vault just that little bit further for new entrants to Australia’s prestige red wine region. The brothers Lynn once were happy with their lot as grape growers in the Coonawarra district, cheerfully tending their 55 ha vineyard planted on some of the best soil in the region between 1968 and 1974. Then, around the turn of the 1980s, when grape prices went through something of a hard time, they began to think about capturing for themselves some of the value that winemaking can add to fruit, extolled so vigorously around that time by people like Brian Croser. Their first wine was a 1991 Shiraz, made by Bruce Gregory at Brand’s Laira. Typical of many family partnerships, the line dividing the responsibilities of the Lynns is rather a blurry one. According to Tony, marketer and administrator Prof takes care of the front of house, winemaker Bruce Gregory (who was persuaded to leave Brand’s) is actually in the house, while he, the viticulturist, is out in the back garden. Teresa and Ros Lynn, married respectively to Tony and Prof, are also closely involved in the business, while Peter Lynn, son of Prof and Ros, is the company’s assistant winemaker and cellarhand. Gerard Lynn, son of Tony and Teresa, works full-time in the vineyard, and his sister, Nerys, doubles as Prof’s p.a. and as the winery’s lab assistant. Four decades on, this family business looks like it will go for a few more yet. Majella’s big break came with the release of its 1994 wines, which included the first Cabernet Sauvignon. Two years later came the winery’s flagship ‘The Malleea’, a no-holds-barred blend of shiraz and cabernet that epitomises Prof Lynn’s idea that regions like Coonawarra should offer flavour and plenty of it. Planted to Prof Lynn’s favourite varieties, shiraz (40%) and cabernet sauvignon (55%), Majella also has some merlot and riesling (a tiny presence) to make up the balance. As you’d expect, he attributes much of his success to this vineyard. ‘Our winemaking is pretty simple’, he says. ‘We concentrate in the vineyard to develop rich Coonawarra essence, looking for a vineyard-driven, fruit-driven wine. You can never add fruit character. You can leave a wine in oak for ages, add acid, muck around with pH, but the one thing you can’t do is to add fruit.’ Majella’s reds now offer some of the best drinking and value from this benchmark region. Their hallmark is a plushness, richness and strength of fruit character that never, at any stage, becomes over-ripe, excessively extracted or porty. They’re powerful, to be sure, generously proportioned for their region and are given a substantial expression of creamy oak, but they remain balanced and well integrated. They strut around with more than a touch of special class, especially those from 1998, 1996 and 1994. As a group, you could taste Majella’s 1997s and almost convince yourself that even this was an exceptional year for Coonawarra. These days, if you consider yourself a bit of a serious red drinker with an eye for a bargain and you don’t buy Majella, you want a very good reason why. Majella moved into its own winery in time for the 1999 vintage. Able to select as they please from the not insubstantial vineyard, the Lynn collective and Gregory presently assemble a total make of around 8,000 cases for the Majella label. Now that they’ve proven themselves in difficult circumstances, I think it will sell out even quicker than ever,
