Xanadu Reserve Cabernet 2023 wins Halliday Red Wine of the Year 2027

Xanadu has done it again. Its Xanadu Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 has won both Cabernet Sauvignon of the Year and Red Wine of the Year in the 2027 Halliday Wine Companion book – two of the most significant red-wine honours in the country.

It caps an extraordinary run for Xanadu's Cabernet. Only months ago, in June, the estate's standard Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 took the Prime Minister's Trophy for Champion Wine of Show at the National Wine Show of Australia.

In the space of a few months, then, two versions of the same 2023 Xanadu Cabernet – the standard and the Reserve – have won two of the biggest red-wine awards in Australia. That cannot be a coincidence. This is a vineyard, a region, a winemaker (Glenn Goodall) and a team absolutely killing it across the board.

I reviewed the Xanadu Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 on The Winefront, scoring it 96 points. My note read, in part:

"Absolute humdinger. Class in a glass. The flesh, finesse, and insistence of the tannin here, in conjunction with fruit, is elite to say the least. Blackcurrant, green and black olives, peppercorns, fennel and smoked, minted cedar notes push both elegantly and powerfully throughout. It's fresh and full at once. It's not in your face but it's classically styled and sustained."

At AU$140 it is the more serious, more structured sibling to the $45 standard release – but the through-line is the same: top-grade Margaret River Cabernet, made to be both drunk and cellared, decorated (over and over) at the highest level.

Buy either or both, you can’t lose.

Xanadu is a Mattinson 10-Star Winery. Incredibly, Xanadu has won 11 Cabernet Trophies at the National Wine Show in just 16 years. Icing was hardly needed but these awards at the Hallidays are a lavish serve of just that. Congrats to Xanadu.

See more [Big Win for Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon]
See more [Xanadu is a Mattinson 10-Star Winery]