Deep crimson. A wonderfully evocative wine. Fragrant pure blackcurrant, dark cherry aromas with integrated praline, mocha, roasted chestnut notes and touches of sage and violet. Beautifully concentrated wine with voluminous blackcurrant, dark cherry, mulberry fruits, plentiful fine grainy al dente tannins, superb dark chocolate, mocha, espresso complexity and underlying chinotto, sage notes. Finishes grainy/ cedar firm with pure cassis, kirsch notes and a plume of extract. Elegant, powerful and expansive with the structure and balance for long term aging; the fruit, tannin, oak and acidity are beautifully integrated. 15 months in new (18%) and seasoned French oak hogsheads (47%) and barriques (53%). Although it’s drinking well, the best is yet to come. Keep for a few years at least. 14% alc Drink 2024-2036+

99 points

Very deep, dark, brooding purple/red colour, with a remarkably complex, savoury bouquet of beautifully-integrated fruit and oak, very ripe cabernet aromas with zero leafy or green notes and lots of dark brooding black fruit and cassis characteristics intertwined with cedar, smoky-bacon and graphite nuances. The wine is almost decadently rich and fleshy, full-bodied and loaded with extract, the abundant tannins extremely supple and superbly knitted into the fabric of the wine. Riveting intensity. A glorious cabernet.

98 points, The Real Review (September 2021)

Lots of lean muscle converts into flavour power: pure blackcurrant and chocolate, sage, plum and espresso, all bound in a graphite tannic grip. Coming from a drier vintage, the density of serious fruit weight equates to intensity, and the flavor clarity persists and resonates long after the last note strikes. Think of that final piano chord in The Beatles’ A Day In The Life. Captivating!

99 points, David Sly, Decanter (October 2020)

Like the 2018 that preceded it, this is a wine of stature, precision and endurance. The tannins are fine and omnipresent, but then a cabernet without tannins would be like a person without purpose. This is direct, forthright and confident, with a core of pure, soft and unfettered berry fruits that cascade over the tongue and trail through the interminable finish. The piercing intensity of fruit on the middle palate echoes in the mouth. Truly, sublime.

97 points, Wine Companion (January 2022)

The refinement of coopers (a result of repeated and long-term R&D over the years) is now starting to emerge as a key part of the success of these new release, premium wines. The selected one or two coopers work to preface the fruit and support the fruit and show the terroir… This is why we drink wine: to taste the place that it came from and to be transported there, if even for a moment. This 2019 John Riddoch Limited Release Cabernet Sauvignon is exceptional—it is pure and has tannic sway and flow, and the palate is steeped in five spice, raspberry, mulberry, cassis and black tea. Inchoate. Don't touch it for seven years at least. Even then...

97+ points, Wine Advocate (August 2022)