Leeuwin Art Series

Putting aside its nervy infancy, this is a brilliant wine from a brilliant producer that expresses its origins now and will develop immense complexity over decades. It takes its time to unfurl beyond oak in the beginning, but when that beautiful fruit awakens and sinks into the wine, this becomes a gorgeous Cabernet of perfumed complexity. Cedar and vanilla pod notes mark the aromas first off before blackberry pastilles, blackcurrant juice, mulberry and blood plum. There’s lovely savouriness in support, too, with bay leaf, warm gravel, hazelnut, dark chocolate and graphite adding dimension as well as a nori-laced mineral note and flickers of black tea. Very good. The palate is at once powerful and elegant with a medium-bodied feel, again with oak taking the lead in the form of cedar wood and vanilla before a finespun and elegant piercing of fruit breaks through the core. Black cherry, blackcurrant, mulberry and blood plum again before dark chocolate and gravel in support. A stacked and grainy frame of graphite tannins coil it all up and funnel the wine into linear length with cooling acidity. An excellent Art Series Cabernet release where patience will reward.

The red variety that put Margaret River on the map, this is a still-young, polished bottling that's structured for a marathon, not a sprint. Showing a cool edge from its southern locale, there are notes of red currant, savory herbs, pencil lead, flowery soap and a lick of chocolatey oak. Lifted acidity, well-tucked oak, tangy fruit and fine-grained tannin make for a sculpted, powerful palate. There's lots of life left here. Drink 2025–2040.