Wynns Coonawarra
Wynns Coonawarra Estate was founded by Scottish pioneer John Riddoch. He planted vineyards in 1891 and completed the estate's three-gabled winery. In 1951 Melbourne wine merchants Samuel and David Wynn purchased Riddoch's original vineyards and winery and renamed the property Wynns Coonawarra Estate.
The Wynns family recognised the intrinsic qualities of Coonawarra wines -their richness and intensity of fruit character - and set out to build an independent identity in the region. They created the famous label that has made John Riddoch's winery one of Australia's best known buildings.
Today Wynns Coonawarra Estate is the region's preeminent wine producer and largest single vineyard holder with the best and longest established vineyard sites in Coonawarra. Its wines are regarded as benchmarks for the district, lauded for their consistent quality and depth of flavour.
The Coonawarra's region most famous feature is the terra rossa soil, a rich red topsoil which lies over soft porous limestone with a constant water table beneath it. As the vines have to struggle and stress in extending the roots through the thin layer of terra rossa and the limestone to the water table, growth of the vine is limited to producing low yielding, intensely flavoured grapes. Like many great wine regions of the world, Coonawarra's climate is cool and marginal. This cool climate ensures a long ripening period that slowly builds up the intensity of flavours in the grape. The resulting wines will always be among Australia's greatest wines for their richness,intensity, depth of flavour and excellent longevity. Source: Wynns Coonawarra Wines