This wine has now achieved the most coveted accolade in Australian wine, with the 2016 vintage winning the Jimmy Watson Trophy. The 2018 vintage also won Langton’s James Halliday Australian Cabernet Challenge, awarding it the best Cabernet in Australia.
Xanadu has also won the Best Cabernet Trophy at the National Wine Show in Canberra the last 7 years in a row, most recently in 2019 with the 2017 vintage of this Cabernet. That’s a remarkable feat for a single producer and it’s rightly cemented the reputation both of Xanadu and long-time winemaker Glenn Goodall.
Over the last 11 years, Xanadu’s stable of extraordinary Cabernets has won a total of 46 trophies and 132 gold medals, a feat that speaks of consistency as much as it does of quality.
Technically Xanadu's 'third' Cabernet, this wine represents incredible value for the price point.
Gold Medal Margaret River Wine Show 2017 Class: Gold
Gold Medal Sydney Royal Wine Show 2018 2018 Class: Gold
Gold Medal Perth Royal Wine Show 2018 Class: Gold
Gold Medal Wine Show of Western Australia 2018 Class: Gold
This wine has a scented, spicy nuance to the cassis base that adds a dimension to the flavour, yet leaves the wine not even medium-bodied, giving it grace and not making demands on the consumer. Superfine tannins complete the deal.
96 points, Wine Companion
A sophisticated cabernet with a detailed, pure-fruited aroma. Nuances of smoky oak and excellent palate density. Pitch-perfect concentration and succulence. An impressive wine.
95 points, The Real Review (March 2019)
It’s really good. Elegant and long but powerful. Curranty, soft, fluid, a little chocolatey, complexed by game, redolent of boot polish, the latter as a positive. It’s fresh, fragrant, infused with minted herbs, and impressive from the first sip. Tannin is of the same class as the wine’s other components. No brainer territory here.
93+ points, The Wine Front (December 2018)
Medium to deep red colour with a tint of purple and a youthfully straightforward but pleasing cabernet aroma, fruit doing most of the talking. The texture is supple and the tannins are finely-grained. It hs a core of sweet fruit and plenty of charm.
93 points, The Real Review (March 2019)
Margaret River
Located three hours south of Perth, Margaret River is Western Australia’s most prestigious wine-growing region. Serious vineyard development began only in the late 1960’s following the publication of a report by John Gladstones in 1965 stating that the area had a similar climate to Pomerol or St Emilion, with low frost risk, plenty of sunshine and equable temperatures within the growing season promoting even ripening. Margaret River’s climate is warm and maritime, with some cooling influence provided by southeast trade winds. The soils derive from granitic and a gneissic rock over which laterite has formed. The region can be divided in three sub-regions: the cooler south between Yallingup and Karridale with predominantly lateritic gravelly loamy sands and sandy loams; the warm and sunnier Willyabrup in the centre with predominantly gravelly loams, but some gritty sandy loams and granitic gravels; and Margaret River in the north with similar soils, but slightly cooler temperatures. This is entirely consistent with style; the wines from Willyabrup being more generous than the highly structured wines of the north and the elegant styles of the south. Margaret River is best known for high quality Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc Semillon blends and top notch Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux blends. Over the years, the region has established an astonishing reputation illustrating a consistency in quality and a strongly focused winemaking culture.
XANADU
John Lagan and family established Xanadu in the 1977 naming the property after Samuel Coleridge’s epic Kubla Khan or a Vision in a Dream. During the mid-1980s and 1990s Xanadu created a strong following for its muscular but energetic wines. After a brief interlude as a public company, it is now once more in private hands as part of the Rathbone Wine group. The Rathbone family has instigated a complete revitalisation of vineyard and wine making practise including lowering yields and optimising regional nuance. The 85 ha property is farmed along low input/organic lines and winemaking follows a minimal-intervention philosophy. Under winemaker Glenn Goodall, Xanadu is enjoying a major renaissance.
