Xanadu Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 

Open aromas of cedar, vanilla bean, and bay leaf kick things off, with oak very much at the fore. A good swirl of the glass fills things out, with graphite and blackberry emerging alongside gravel, mulberry, tilled earth, pink peppercorn, and blood plum. There’s also a subtle nori complexity adding a saline edge. The palate has the expected oak chew upfront—this is a wine built to last—but there’s also lift and minerality, with beautiful fruit presence. Black cherry, mulberry, blackberry, cedar, earth, bay leaf, vanilla, and gravel burst through with confidence before being swept up in firm, stacked, gravelly tannins and drawn to a long finish. The power of the 2022 vintage is on display here, as is the fruit quality and the deft hand of Glenn Goodall. It’s complex and intense, with wonderful fruit purity pushing confidently through the oak. This simply needs 20 years to show its true colours. A very strong release.