AUTHOR: Dave McIntyre TITLE: 1954 - A Very Good Year for Coonawarra Cabernet DATE: 11/03/2005 10:56:00 PM ----- BODY:

Vintage wine at its best is an expression not only of place, but also of time. So 1954 must have been a very good year, at least in Coonawarra. That was the first vintage for Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that helped establish Coonawarra as one of Australia’s premier wine regions. The area’s red soil gives wines great structure and minerality, as well as the ability to age. The winery is now celebrating 50 vintages of its Cab, and the current winemaker, Sue Hodder, recently toured the U.S. with a selection of vintages. The ’54 featured good acidity and surprising fruit for a wine so old, while the ’58 showed tawny, earthier flavors and was well past its prime. After being opened awhile, the ’54 also tired and showed its age, but what most impressed me was the similarity of its initial burst of enthusiasm to younger wines from the ‘70s, ‘90s and the ‘aughts. The ’94 and ’96 were especially superb, displaying floral notes and a sensuous, lush texture. The 2001, the vintage in current release, tasted more familiar, probably because I’m used to drinking wines before they have a chance to really strut their stuff. (After all, I’m a lot more interesting than I was in my youth, and people who underestimated me back then will probably never know.) Even the 2002 and the 2004, a barrel sample, showed similar character to their predecessors despite being bigger and brawnier. These are wines of restraint – ripe fruit flavors without the excessive wallop of alcohol so much in vogue these days. If you can find the 2001, I urge you to buy several bottles, because you will want to restrain yourself and let some lie still for a decade or so. It’s well worth the investment, because the winery’s restraint extends beyond the style of the wine to the price – a modest $20.

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