Leeuwin Estate, Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon, 2016 - Magnum
Leeuwin Estate, Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon, 2016 - Magnum
- Red Still
- Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec
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Leeuwin Estate was born in the early to mid-70s when founders Denis and Tricia Horgan decided to plant vines on their cattle ranch, a few miles in from the coast in Western Australia’s Margaret River, a few 100 miles south of Perth.
It has proved to be an inspired decision and with Robert Mondavi on hand to give advice and guidance in the early days, they hit the ground running. Within a couple of years of their first vintage (1979) they were winning both plaudits and awards worldwide. Their Art Series Chardonnay became one of the most must-have wines of Australia almost overnight.
Fast forward 40 years and their daughter, Simone Furlong, now runs the winery, maintaining the estate’s enviable position at the top table of Aussie wineries. It’s interesting listening to Simone talk about those early days when her parents were starting out, as she feels that perhaps it was their lack of experience in the wine industry that gave them their open-minded, fresh approach to the whole project, which allowed them to break new ground and set higher bars. They were amongst the first to plant Chardonnay, using various Burgundian clones, in an area more familiar with Bordeaux varietals and what a great decision that was.
If you tasted this wine blind, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in St Julien or Pauillac. There is such poise and well-crafted structure to the wine which lift and punctuate the stony, blueberry fruit just perfectly. The main difference is that if you were in St Julien and Pauillac, drinking a wine of this quality, you’d be paying much more!
What the critics say:
"The fruit on the nose of this wine has the power of a soprano diva. This is a massive step up from the Prelude, in fruit intensity and purity, drive, structure, elegance, complexity, precision. I find the tannins here much more refined – not at all drying. Winemaker Tim Lovett describes this as much more structural than the Prelude, but I find that the structure is much less obvious, more integrated, more balanced. The tannins don’t feel awkward and youthful and grappling to hang on to the taster as the Prelude tannins are. Well worth the 70% price premium. The fruit is silk and velvet, up-lit ruby and amethyst gemstone glow, tobacco-leaf scented, fine-ground bay-leaf and cumin pressed into tight blackcurrant leaf-and-fruit laminae. This is vineyard origami, not yet unfolded."
"The 2016 Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon was highly regarded on release, as were many of the 2016 Cabernets from the region. Defined by tannin and acid, the 2016 is still closed, although the exuberance of the fruit is barely disguised by the structure. It's youthful and mineral, classy, but not for now, in truth, give it some more time."
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Leeuwin Estate
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