2015 Leconfield Cabernet Sauvignon Coonawarra 750 ml

“A well-aged and carefully cellared Coonawarra Cabernet,” writes Josh Raynolds for Vinous, “has fooled me more than a few times into thinking I was drinking a top-notch Left Bank Bordeaux.”

Some call it Australia’s most famous terroir: a mile-wide, 13-mile long strip of rich, rust-red “terra rossa” soil in the famed Coonawarra district. All along this precious stretch lie vines that have produced some of the country’s most sought-after and famous Cabernet Sauvignons.

Perhaps none more so than this Médoc-like 2015 Leconfield Cabernet Sauvignon, which earned 95 points from Australia’s leading critic James Halliday. This wine has excellent density, packed with juicy plum, spearmint and bracketed by sweet French oak spice.

The Hamilton family behind Leconfield is Australian wine royalty. Incredibly, it wasn’t until age 76 that the legendary oenologist Sydney Hamilton set out to create an iconic Australian Cabernet. The year was 1974 when he founded the Leconfield estate. By 1978, he had succeeded—both the ‘78 and ‘80 vintage in particular became hot-ticket collectibles. In 1981, his nephew Richard Hamilton took over and continues to run the property today with winemaker Paul Gordon, increasing the vineyard holdings and honing the viticulture of the Cabernet Sauvignon.

Mother Nature does much of the work here, as Sydney foresaw. Lying over a limestone bed, the terra rossa soil is well-draining and packed with nutrients and minerals, perfect for the cultivation of exceptional Cabernet. The nearby Southern Ocean provides a refreshing maritime climate, its cool breezes helping to lengthen ripening, ensuring that grapes are packed with voluptuous fruit concentration come harvest time.

In the low-yielding 2015 vintage, idyllic growing conditions without extreme heat spikes meant that vines infused flavors into the remaining bunches, while tannins ripened and acids remained even-keeled. Left Bank by way of Southern Australia, this astonishing value red could cellar for another decade or drink beautifully tomorrow alongside a ribeye steak.