2018 Leeuwin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Art Series Margaret River Western Australia 750 ml

Our Head of Wine, Vanessa Conlin, calls Leeuwin “the benchmark estate Australian Cabernet,” while James Suckling has invoked the First Growths, calling Leeuwin the “Mouton Rothschild of Australia.”

High praise often comes with high prices, but you can put two bottles of this 97-point Art Series in your cellar for a Benjamin. And the 2018 vintage? JamesSuckling.com called it “without question one of the best and most classically styled vintages ever recorded in Margaret River and across greater Western Australia.”

This Cabernet has it all: complexity, enough stuffing for a long life in the cellar, and a voice that speaks of its inimitable terroir in a landmark vintage. If you love Bordeaux or classically structured Napa Cabs, we can’t recommend this wine more highly.

The Margaret River region of Western Australia is absolutely perfect for Cabernet. Denis and Tricia Horgan started something special when they planted their first vines in the early 1970s. In 1973, they met the legendary Robert Mondavi, who told the couple that they had terroir capable of producing world-class wines. With Mondavi’s guidance, Leeuwin quickly became the benchmark for excellence in the country, bursting onto the international stage when Decanter awarded its highest honors to the 1980 Art Series, following a blind tasting.

The 2018 growing season was blessed with a long Indian summer that allowed the grapes to achieve optimal ripeness. Leeuwin’s team, under the direction of Senior Winemaker Tim Lovett, not only picked by individual parcel but vinified the grapes from each one separately. After nine months in barrel, the final blend was assembled and then spent a total of 22 months in French oak and another two-plus years in bottle.