The Auswine Forum

1996 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon {cork, 13%}
Classic aged Coonawarra. Herbs - basil - with curranty cassis underneath, and a dusting of cigar box. Smells a little too fruity to be old claret, but it's not unrelated. Nearly looks its age; there's some faint bricking around the rim of this otherwise garnet wine. The palate is very seductive indeed, with wet leaves, a lick of bright red fruits, soft and rather grainy loose-knit tannins. Faint old oak notes too. It's just medium-bodied, and coats the palate wonderfully with flavour (right to the back of the tongue); still it's not a dense or thick wine, but rather has a translucence to it. And proof you don't need size for staying power; this takes an age to fade away on the palate, with a long, dry and savoury, perhaps slightly simple, finish. Still, for A$15 on release (and only around A$50 at auction today) no-one could complain. Surely close to peak now; ought to make twenty years OK however.
cheers,
GG

Graeme,

Thanks for the great notes on the 1996 Wynns. I have a couple of bottles of this and now, based on you appraisal, feel confident that there is no need to open a bottle anytime soon. I had been thinking that it was time to open a bottle of the 1996 Wynn's Red Stripe Cab/Merlot blend.

Medium-bodied is just fine by me, no need for all wines to be dense or thick, particularly wines with some bottle age.

Cheers.................Mahmoud.

Thanks for the TN Graeme,

I was given a bottle of the 1996 as a gift last year and based on your comments, will open it this year. As you note, for a wine $15 on release and still readily available, it is a real treasure. I hope some of the more recent vintages hold up as well.

Cheers

RB