2018 Woodlands Xavier Cabernet Sauvignon

Midnight black in colour with a dark red black tinged hue. Soaring from the glass are highly alluring aromas of ripe red to black currant, mulberry, hints of red liquorice and bay leaf followed by some spicy vanillin cedar, tobacco, earth and faint black olive. Rich yet supremely refined and elegantly structured, a tidal wave of red to black fruit powers its way across the palate. Beautifully fleshed with notions of vanillin cedar, tobacco, subtle earthy black olive and infusions of bay leaf lingering through the back palate. Fine grained, seamlessly integrated tannins finishing exceptionally long and magnificently balanced with a Bordeaux like feel to it.
Drink over the next 10-15 years.
Alc. 13.5%

Other Reviews.....
93/6/1% cabernet sauvignon/malbec/cabernet franc. Hand picked, 50% wild ferment, 21 days on skins, matured for 19 months in French oak (100% new). If you haven't had the pleasure of drinking one of these cabernets as an older wine, you may not get the full scope of the young wine on release. Here, today, it is tightly coiled, spicy and concentrated. The savoury, biscuity oak we often associate with good quality Bordeaux is here in spades, and it encases the kaleidoscopic flavours that lie possible beyond. However, in 10 years, this wine transforms into a powerful and expansive wine of depth, grace and evocation. From one of Margaret River's greatest all-time vintages, this is a wine for the ages. Drink by 2052.
98 Points
Erin Larkin - James Halliday's Australian Wine Companion (January 2022)