Xanadu Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2023

Strictly speaking, there is a small splash of Malbec (4%) and Petit Verdot (4%) nestling in among the Cabernet berries. Altogether, it is a Margaret River Cabernet at its flawless best but, first, some airtime is recommended. I gave it two hours and then it was swimming in Marg’s beauty bringing all manner of black berries, blue fruits, dried herbs, liquorice, allspice, cassia bark and some arresting violet florals to the fore.  Smooth running all the way, but also well-formed and structurally firm, dense in fine tannins. Beautifully presented and runs perfectly with a freshness, something that we rarely comment on with top-flight cabernets, but something quite integral to their lasting appeal. And this most definitely has lasting appeal.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic