The International Wine Challenge (IWC) has named a South Australian Riddoch ‘The Pastoralist’ Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, the best in the world.
Riddoch Coonawarra, part of Endeavour Group’s premium wine portfolio, Paragon Wine Estates, took out the top prize defeating wines from 20 other countries.
The IWC is one of the world’s most rigorous, impartial, and influential annual wine competitions. It assesses every wine ‘blind’ and judges each for its faithfulness to style, region and vintage.
The IWC judging team includes experts and influencers from the international wine industry, commercial decision-makers, buyers and MWs. Each year they taste and collaborate to reveal the highest quality wines from over 6,000 entries and 52 wine-producing countries.
Chief winemaker at Riddoch Coonawarra, Tim Heath, said: “John Riddoch started making wine in the Coonawarra in 1890, and in doing so established one of Australia’s greatest wine regions. Today, we’re proud to continue his legacy of crafting expressive wines that are a great representation of the region.
“Back in 2020, Matt (Reimann) and I set ourselves some fairly ambitious targets for the quality of wines we wanted to produce under the Riddoch Coonawarra name. Winemaking is about long-term effort and persistence, and if we’re completely honest, we thought it would take much longer than this to receive these kinds of accolades.
“We were quietly confident about the wines we’d bottled for the 2021 vintage, but it is incredibly special to receive this validation for all the hard work that has happened in the background over the last three years.”
IWC Judges described the drop as ‘classic’ in style, with blackcurrant, mint and herbal cassis. They also said it displayed a long fruit flavour and finished fresh.
The award-winning wines from Riddoch Coonawarra will be available in Dan Murphy’s and BWS from 29 June, the Riddoch ‘The Pastoralist’ Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 at RRP$39.99.
