Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2023

Bottle of Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2023.

Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2023
$45, 14% alcohol, screwcap, Margaret River.

Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon is to Margaret River wine what Wynns Coonawarra Estate Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon is to Coonawarra. It’s the affordable Cabernet Sauvignon that cellars like a charm and, indeed, it’s the affordable Margaret River cabernet that has the ability to knock off all comers. Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon did, after all, once win Australia’s most prestigious wine award, the Jimmy Watson Trophy. Every Australian cellar should include Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon and every Australian wine cellar should also include Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon. Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon is that good, and that important.

This wine won the Prime Minister’s Trophy for Champion Wine of Show at the 2026 National Wine Show of Australia.

This 2023 release of Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon is faultless. I’ve tasted/consumed it a few times and every time I’ve been bowled over by its balance, its flavour, and by its charm. It’s built on flavours of blackcurrant, salted black olives, mint, cedar, raspberry, bay leaves and cream, though pure fruit is the mainstay and everything else is just there to lend a hand. It’s medium in weight, it’s elegant, it feels good in your mouth, and it exudes beauty. You could ask for nothing more. 95 points.

Stock up, is my recommendation.

Xanadu is a Mattinson 10-Star Winery.

 
Campbell Mattinson

This post was written by Campbell Mattinson. Mattinson is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of The Winefront business. He is the author of five books on wine – four of which were bestsellers (The Wine Hunter, the Big Red Wine Book 2008, the Big Red Wine Book 2009, and the Big Red Wine Book 2010).

Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.

Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the national Best Australian Sports Writing Award. In 2026 three of his photographs were short-listed for the World Food Photography Awards.

Campbell Mattinson, who is 100% independent, has tasted between 5000 and 10,000 wines each and every year for the past 25 years. He tastes blind, in comparative brackets, as often as is practicable.

Campbell Mattinson is a journalist, a photographer, a filmmaker and a wine critic. In all of these mediums his prime motive is to tell people's stories.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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