2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Art Series
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Tasting notes
The 2018 vintage in Margaret River was perhaps the best vintage in the modern commercial history of the region (i.e., since 1967). Most producers made their best wines in this year, and despite a string of extremely high-quality vintages that followed (2019 - cool, aromatic; 2020 - moderate to warm, great power and tannin structure; 2022 - too early to tell but whispers abound that it rivals 2018, certainly a warm year), it remains a standalone vintage in its outlay of powerful fruit and shape. The 2018 Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon is the best made at the estate, and I say that ahead of my favored 2014 and 2012 vintages.
Critic scores
Average Score
Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Contains 3% Malbec. 22 months in French oak (50% new) in all. Otherwise made quite like the Prelude Vineyards Cabernet 2019. Real energy here and not a trace of alcohol or heaviness. An undertow of balsam and interest. Very sappy and appetising. Much more lift than the average red bordeaux. Fine tannins are already as a background to the well-judged fruit. Ends dry after a graphite thread. (JR)
A complex and layered nose of blackcurrants, fresh mint, pine cone and red licorice. Medium- to full-bodied with fine, structured tannins. Succulent and well constructed with a solid core of black fruit. Leafy herbs and black tea character add welcome depth. Delicious. So attractive right now but will age wonderfully. 97% cabernet sauvignon and 3% malbec. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Malbec. After individual berry sorting and cold soaking, fermentation took place in closed static fermenters at temperatures between 26 °C–30 °C 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. The wine spent a total of 22 months in oak. Truly elegant in every way. One sip of this wine and I can feel its beauty. It has a pure-fruited translucency and the whisper of pine needles, a mint-cold freshness, tannins reaching long, tenacious, slender from top to bottom, embedded through the fruit. A wine with a sweet heart, taut purpose, exquisitely formed clarity. (TC)
About the producer
Leeuwin Estate is one of Australia’s leading wine producers. Based close to Cape Leeuwin, in the southern reaches of Margaret River, Western Australia, this remote estate is best known for its Art Series wines.