Riddoch Coonawarra ‘The Pastoralist’ 2021 vintage, has been declared the best Cabernet in the world at the prestigious International Wine Challenge, held in the UK earlier this month.
The wine, named after the founder of the famed Coonawarra Wine Region – John Riddoch – topped wines from 20 other countries to take out the highest honour for the varietal, which has not been won by an Australian wine for more than a decade.
Riddoch Coonawarra Chief Winemaker Tim Heath said the Pastoralist was a homage to John Riddoch, the pastoralist and parliamentarian who founded the Coonawarra Fruit Colony.
“John Riddoch started making wine in Coonawarra in 1890, and in doing so established on of Australia’s greatest wine regions. Today, we are proud to continue his legacy of crafting expressive wines that are a great representation of the region”, Heath said.
“Back in 2020, fellow winemaker Matt and I set ourselves some fairly ambitious targets for the quality of wines we wanted to produce under the Riddoch Coonawarra label.”
“Winemaking is about long-term effort and persistence, and if we’re completely honest, we though it would take much longer than this to receive these kinds of accolades.”
“We were quietly confident about the wines we’d bottles for the 2021 vintage, but it is incredibly special to receive this validation for all the hard work that has happening in the background over the past three years”.
The 2021 Pastoralist will be available through Dan Murphy’s and BWS from June 29th and retails for $39.99.
Paragon Wine Estate is owned by Endeavour Group with also owns the bottle shops.
The International Wine Challenge is considered among the world’s most rigorous and prestigious wine competitions, with thousands of wines from more than 50 Countries judged.
Australia had a strong showing overall at the IWC with 62 gold medals, 250 silver medals and 199 Bronzes, placing second only to France which picked up 70 Gold Medals.
Portugal, Spain and New Zealand rounded out the top five nations in terms of standings in the competition.
