2021 Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon

This blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Malbec and 4% Petit Verdot was sourced predominantly from mature vineyards in the more northern Margaret River sub region of Wilyabrup (40%) along with estate grown fruit from the Wallcliffe sub region (44%), and a portion from a vineyard in Treeton (8%) and Yallingup (8%). Maturation took place in French oak barriques (40%) new for a period of 14 months.
Totally opaque black dark red core with a dark red black tinged hue. Sailing out of the glass with plenty of intensity are blackcurrant and mulberry aromas which are complimented by some cedary tobacco notes, spicy black olive and bay leaf. Rich red to black currant and mulberry fruits carry good flesh across the refined medium to full bodied palate with vanillin cedar, tobacco, earth and spicy bay leaf infusions also chiming in for added complexity. Beautifully integrated fine grained tannin structure. Long highly finessed conclusion.
Drink over the next 6-8 years.
Alc. 14%

Other Reviews….
Year in year out this cabernet delivers – even in difficult years such as 2021 (rain events and high humidity during harvest). If anything, this is quite tight and needs more time in the cellar, if you can’t wait, decant. It reveals an exuberant fruit profile, given its youth, from mulberries and cassis to blackberries all offset by complex savoury notes, think nori, iodine and tapenade, a flutter of spice, too and a little smoky. It’s fine boned in a way, as it’s just medium-bodied with filigree tannins, neat acidity and a radicchio bitterness to finish. I kept coming back to this wine – it unfurled in the glass but also, a few days later, still impressive. Drink by 2035.
95 Points
Jane Faulkner – James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion

Another fantastic wine that continues the line that winemaker Goodall established some years ago. It is a wine that always delivers so much above its price point. This is a tighter and slightly firmer expression of Margaret River cabernet than the 2020, yet there is plenty of power and drive through an intense and concentrated palate. Perfumed aromas of blackcurrant and bay leaf with a trace of edgy black olive. The structural core provides so much poise to a wine that will cellar exceptionally well.
96 Points
Ray Jordan