2015 Xanadu Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Margaret River Australia 750 ml

We’ve been in love with Xanadu for years, and so have Wine Access members, which is why we were able to land this library allocation just a year after Xanadu won Australia’s prestigious Jimmy Watson Trophy (given to the country’s top young red wine). That career-making honor has pushed demand for Xanadu Cabernet higher than it’s ever been, which means less and less is making it out of Oz. Fortunately, our relationship with the importer has secured us another allocation. 

Grown in the Margaret River region of Western Australia—warmer than Bordeaux, cooler than Napa Valley, and perfect for Cabernet—the ‘15 Xanadu earned its 96-point score from peerless Australian critic James Halliday. It’s purple-ruby in color, showing freshly-crushed blackcurrant, juicy black cherry, and blackberry, intermingling with a backdrop of Oscuro tobacco. Youthful and vibrant with layers of savory spice, cedar, mint, and dried violet, it’s got a full body, superb structure, and is ready to enjoy now and over the next decade.  

When a 2017 Wine Enthusiast headline exhorted readers to “Pay Attention to Australian Cabernet” because it offers “compelling competition for Napa and Bordeaux,” they were basically talking about the idyllic Western Australia outpost of Margaret River. Even Robert Mondavi was so convinced of the area’s world-class potential that he flirted with buying a property there in the early 1970s.

Margaret River boasts striking similarities to the California Cabernet epicenter of Napa Valley: Both regions seduce visitors with their sun-dappled, slow-paced lifestyles. And both are callow but stiff competition to the long-established châteaux of Bordeaux.

Xanadu has been in Margaret River since its early days. Dr. John Lagan and his wife Eithne planted their first Cabernet Sauvignon and Semillon near the coast in 1977, and now the Xanadu property has over 200 acres of vines planted in Margaret River’s well-drained gravelly soils. Acquired by the Rathbone family in 2005, Xanadu has stayed family-owned and obsessively quality-focused, and it shows: They take the top Cabernet prize at Australia’s National Wine Show so often that the other wineries might be wondering whether it’s worth showing up at all. Their taking of the Jimmy Watson Trophy in 2018 just served to cement Xanadu as one of the world’s best Cabernet values.   

Think of how rare (or practically nonexistent) under-$30 Cabernets are in California. Now think of how much a 96-point Napa Cabernet will normally set you back. Seems like a good time to claim your share of the 2015 Xanadu.