Leeuwin Estate Prelude Cabernet Sauvignon 2023

Bay leaf, cocoa powder, blackcurrant, black olive brine, flickers of graphite, shortbread and plum. Savoury complexity hovers over a core of elegant fruit making for a beguiling perfume. The palate displays power and elegance with an assertive, architectural feel — firm, grainy tannins, blackcurrant, sweet shortbread and black olive again, plum, lashings of brown spice. Excellent length, with bright acidity towing things along with coolness. This will age brilliantly over the next five to ten years — remarkable at $34. If the 2023 Margaret River releases are anything to go by, savvy drinkers should be paying close attention — and moving quickly.