Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 – new release
Margaret River
$96.00
Bold, rich and contoured primary fruits engage with bright, almost mineral acidity, contoured with olive tapenade, iodine and sage. The tannins are silky, finely polishing the shape and finish on the palate. Incredible wine.
Min. Quantity: 1
Few stories can be told about modern Australian wine without mentioning the amazing rise of the Margaret River, and Leeuwin Estate as a pioneer. Founded by Denis and Tricia Horgan in 1979, Leeuwin Estate is the star estate of Margaret River’s southern area. The Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon has a concentrated and dark nose that displays an abundance of dark cherries and boysenberries while blackcurrants greet the nose. The fruit spectrum is woven around complex layers of star anise, black cardamom, cedar, clove, cumin and fennel seed. There is a gentle lift of freshly picked violets and lavender. Concentrated and textured, dark black fruits meet cacao and coffee on the palate. There is power and structure, finely tuned with finesse and elegance. A graphite, mineral and ethereal thread is laced throughout. Star anise and cinnamon quill provides an extra layer leading to a fine, powdery, and slightly chalky finish. Amazing.
Expert Reviews & Awards
"An elegant, classy wine and irresistible as a result. Perfectly composed flavours of cassis and currants, woodsy spices and leafy freshness with a lift of oak, all as one here. Beautiful fine tannins glide across the medium-bodied palate, the equally fine acidity cleansing and invigorating, and it finishes long and very pure. Gosh, this is excellent." 97 Points (On the 2020 Vintage).
Halliday Wine Companion - February 2024 (JF)
“One of the last wines released from the great 2018 Margaret River vintage, this has to be one of the finest cabernets yet from Leeuwin. Supremely balanced and poised with stylish lines through to a very long finish. Scented aromas of cedar and leafy blackcurrant with a trace of oyster shell. The palate is quite brilliant with the distinct chalky tannins and super fine grained oak holding the fruit gently to its extended finish. Great wine here.” (On the 2018 vintage).
Wine Pilot - 97 points 2022 (RJ)
"Gosh this is good. This is the region and the variety and the estate all committing to the task and combining to exemplary effect. Such structure, such fruit, such balance and such impact. Blackcurrant and pencils, dark chocolate and herbs, some eucalypt lift and even some florals. Tannin, my word, it’s beautifully formed, a keel with wings, a determinant. I kept tasting this wine and it kept telling me things. Leeuwin Estate cabernet is now right up there with the best." 96 Points (On the 2019 vintage).
Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front.
"This was a freak vintage in the hands of many winemakers in WA, capable of power, balance, ripeness and glory. This has pomegranate, red licorice and peppered raspberry. The fruit flavours, while slinky and seductive, are not the major player here. And that is saying something. The key to the brilliance of this wine, like the '14, the '10 and to some extent the '05 before it, is the texture. The tannins. They are tightly woven, very fine and serve to support the fruit and the acid. This wine is built on a stable scaffold of tannin that both cushions the experience and defines it. What a wine." 97 Points (On the 2018 vintage).
Halliday Wine Companion - August 2022 (EL)
"It’s masterful to craft a wine that is structured, detailed, powerful and concentrated, and yet, it feels effortless. Mulberries, cassis, warm spices, violets and cedary oak come together in harmony while the tannins sashay across the palate. Flavours persist, as does the finish, and it will age beautifully but hard to resist now. Impressive wine." 97 Points (on the 2019 vintage).
Halliday Wine Companion - August 2023 (JF)
Winemaking Notes
After individual berry sorting and cold soaking, fermentation took place in closed, static fermenters at temperatures between 26C-30C with extraction by pumping over each individual parcel three times daily. After malolactic fermentation entirely in barrels and nine months of barrel maturation, separate parcels were blended for further maturation in French Bordelaise coopered barriques with seasonal rackings (50% new Bordelaise for 24 months.)
Producer
Leeuwin Estate
Family owned, Leeuwin Estate, one of the five founding wineries of the now famous Margaret River district of Western Australia, is under the direction of two generations who work with a team of highly skilled winemakers to consistently produce wines ranking alongside the world’s finest. In 1972, legendary Napa Valley winemaker, Robert Mondavi, identified the future site of the Leeuwin vineyard as being ideal for the production of premium wine and provided early mentorship to Denis and Tricia Horgan in the transformation of their cattle farm into Leeuwin Estate. Enjoying its first commercial vintage in 1979, Leeuwin was thrust into the international spotlight when Decanter Magazine gave its highest recommendation to the 1981 “Art Series” Chardonnay. The international accolades have continued and Leeuwin now exports to 30 markets. The prestigious Langton’s Classification of Australian wine includes Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay in the top “Exceptional” category and amongst the iconic “Heritage five” celebrating Australia’s most exceptional, ground-breaking wines, whilst Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon is classified as “Outstanding”. Leeuwin Estate has been included in US ‘Wine & Spirits’ Magazine’s Hall of Fame in the category of ‘International Wineries of the Year’ and with point scores as high as 98/100, US ‘Wine Spectator’ has included Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnays amongst the “Top 100 Wines of the Year” on numerous occasions. Leeuwin Estate’s Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon has been a UK ‘Decanter’ Magazine “Top 50 Wine of the Year” and a US ‘Wine & Spirits’ “Top 100 Wine of The Year”, whilst leading Australian wine commentator, James Halliday, includes Leeuwin in his ‘Top 100 Australian Wineries’. Celebrating the combination of fine wine, food, art and music, Leeuwin features an award winning restaurant, cellar door and art gallery. The Estate is renowned for staging spectacular events and welcoming visitors from around the world.
Variety
About Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon is grown in many of the world’s wine regions, such as the Napa Valley in California, Hawke’s Bay in New Zealand, Colchagua Valley in Chile and Stellenbosch in South Africa. In France, Cabernet Sauvignon is the classic grape of the Haut Medoc, in Bordeaux, and it makes some of the world’s most highly prized and age-worthy wines. The red wines of Bordeaux are mostly a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. They are incredible wines, known throughout history as being the pinnacle of red wine making. Cabernet Sauvignon is also found in the Super Tuscan wine blends. In Australia, there are pockets of excellent Cabernet Sauvignon growing in regions such as the Eden Valley or the Adelaide Hills. However, Cabernet Sauvignon really excels in the Yarra Valley, the Margaret River and the Coonawarra. Interestingly, there tends to be a maritime influence in the top Cabernet Sauvignon wine regions. Viticulturalists say that this keeps the vineyards cool enough to retain the acidity in the grapes, while also allowing enough sunshine to develop good fruit flavours and to ripen the grapes. The Coonawarra also has the famous strip of red, ‘terra rossa’ soil, which is ideal for producing intensely flavoured and well structured wines. Australian Cabernet Sauvignon usually shows aromas and flavours such as blackcurrant, black cherry, dark chocolate, mint, black olive, eucalyptus or cassis, in any combination. The wine usually has firm tannins and a good acidity, ideal for helping Cabernet Sauvignon to age well. Overall, Australian Cabernet Sauvignon has a total abundance of flavour and it goes extremely well with prime cuts of beef – on a chilly night.
Region
About Margaret River
The Margaret River produces outstanding Chardonnay, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc as well as Bordeaux style red blends made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Located 200 kilometres south of Perth, the Margaret River has a warm maritime climate. This results in grapes that have concentrated fruit aromas and flavours while still retaining high levels of acidity, due to the cooling ocean breezes. This also allows the Margaret River to offer fresh, elegant and restrained wines as well as full-bodied and powerful wines.
Details
Closure: Screw Cap
Country: Australia
Wine Body: Full Bodied
Wine Sweetness: Dry
Size: 750mL
Non Alcoholic: No
Delivery
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