2019 Leeuwin Estate Prelude Cabernet Sauvignon Margaret River Australia 750 ml

The 95-point 2019 Leeuwin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Prelude Vineyards isn’t just one of the best bargains in Margaret River, or Australia at large. It’s one of the best Cabernet values in the world, from the winery that James Suckling called “the Mouton Rothschild of Australia.” 

Crafted from younger vines and treated with less oak than Leeuwin’s signature Art Series, it comes in at barely half the price. Yet it boasts a staggering 95-point score from Aussie authority Halliday Wine Companion, the Down-Under answer to Wine Advocate, who called it “unbelievable value for money.”

The complexity that the Leeuwin team wrings from the Cabernet grapes for this value-priced bottle is simply astounding. Warmer than Bordeaux but cooler than Napa Valley, the Margaret River region of Western Australia is practically tailor-made for growing Cabernet Sauvignon with elegance and complexity.

Leeuwin founders Denis and Tricia Horgan started something special when they planted their first vines in the early 1970s. In 1973, they met American wine legend 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.

Like almost no year before it, the 2018 vintage fulfills the promise that Denis, Tricia, and Mondavi first detected in this blessed patch of winegrowing nirvana. Powerful, classically structured, and intense, this is a world-class Cabernet that’s worth sampling at almost any price.