Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
- 93
- $40
- Drink by: 2023-2026
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A very fine Margaret River Cabernet, as we have come to expect from this maker. A mix of predominantly Wilyabrup and Wallcliffe fruit. After fermentation, 20% saw extended maceration on skins. Maturation was for 14 months in French oak, 40% of it new barriques. Dark maroon in colour, we have a savoury, slightly earthy style of Cabernet, with mushroom notes, leather, plums, mulberries, blackcurrants, chocolate and tobacco leaves. The wine would benefit from a decant for an hour or two and shows good focus with fine but firm tannins. This is a wine of mid length with a gentle fade. Good now but will surely be better (and deserve a higher score) in two to three years, before drinking well for another decade.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
