Xanadu Stevens Road Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
- 95
- $80
- Drink by: 2022-2030
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A fresh, clean, aromatic cabernet from one of its Australian soul homes. Breathe in the violet, lavender, leaf, black berries, so lifted, so autumn-like, so ready for an impending winter spent indoors with roast lamb, maybe a medium-rare steak and, for the vegetarians, pumpkin and chestnut pie. Tasting this wine gets the creative food juices working overtime.
But back to the wine . . . There are layers of sweet, juicy fruit including blackcurrant pastille, anise/liquorice to explore here together with a light savouriness and background toasted nuts. A little taste of peppermint is very regional. Beautifully integrated tannins and oak here, finishing long and fresh, Stevens Road is a joy to behold. I would drink it now to enjoy the fab primary fruit, but it could easily take time out in the cellar.
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.
