Xanadu Stevens Road Cabernet Sauvignon 2022
- 94
- $100
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A strong year for Cabernet in Margaret River, and this limited-release wine from a great vineyard in the Wallcliffe subregion makes the most of it. It’s open and layered aromatically from the outset, with cracked spice, graphite, and warm gravel providing interest before sweeter notes of mulberry, dark cherry, cooked plum, and bay leaf build in, supported by fine cedar. With air, it all comes together beautifully, gaining detail from dried herbs and a touch of au jus. This is a strong wine—elegant yet expressive. The palate follows suit in its lift and refinement, sitting high in the mouth with mulberry, blackcurrant, dark cherry, and mocha at the fore, with cedar and graphite lingering beneath. It still feels a little nervy and furled, with stacked, grainy tannins and latent black-fruited acidity constructing around the fruit. Time in the cellar should reveal more, but this is already a lovely release.
Tom Kline is a wine writer, reviewer, presenter, and educator based in Victoria, Australia. He is the Australian correspondent for the internationally respected publications Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy and Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux, where he highlights the top tier of Australian wine for a global audience. Tom also writes for leading outlets including Decanter (UK), Wine Spectator (US), and Halliday Magazine, among others. An experienced wine show judge and WSET educator, he has authored several consumer-focused wine courses aimed at making wine more accessible and engaging. In 2023, Tom was awarded Best Published Feature Article or Wine Column at the prestigious Wine Communicator Awards, presented by Wine Communicators of Australia.
