Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
14% alcohol, screwcap, Margaret River.

This 2016 edition of Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon won the Jimmy Watson Trophy in 2018. We reviewed it to The Winefront site at the time. This note it from a vertical tasting of Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon at the winery in late 2024. In other words, this note is from when the wine was 8.5 years old.

Sheesh this is in good shape. It has mellowed and meshed but it’s as fresh as it is complex, and its flavours glide along. It tastes of currants and chocolate and an array of dried herbs, with subtle earth, tobacco and leather notes expanding throughout. Tannin is just so beautifully judged, and extended. Mint notes add some lift. Once upon a time Jimmy Watson Trophy winners had a reputation for not ageing so well; this wine is the opposite, it’s in great shape, with a good 5-10 peak drinking years ahead of it.

I tasted this wine fresh from having tasted the 2014 and 2015 Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon releases. This 2016 felt like a clear step up; more seamless and more sustained and arguably more textural too.

95 points.

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Xanadu sits among Australia’s Best Wineries as a Mattinson 10-Star Winery.
Xanadu reviews.