The 2020 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is firm and plush, with layers of tannin and dark fruit. The season was warm, dry and low yielding, and the wines are concentrated and structural. This works very well in the favor of some vineyards, less so for others. At Xanadu, the estate Cabernet fruit tends to be delicate and aromatic, pure and concentrated (I am well aware that "concentrated" and "delicate" may not go hand in hand, but the Xanadu wines make it so), so in a warm season such as 2020, and in the context of this wine that sources fruit from further north in the region, the wine has gravitas and density to spare. Raspberry, tobacco, pepper, roast beetroot and nori inflections. It was made with 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot and 5% Malbec and matured for 14 months in French oak (40% new). 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

The 2019 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is awesome, with layer upon layer of flavor—all of them settling on each other like fine sheets of tissue. It gives up notes of blood, ferrous, iodine, pomegranate, raspberry, tobacco, aniseed, saltbush, bay leaf, matcha (green tea), bramble and undergrowth. Beetroot, fennel and more more more. What a wine. As usual, the style of this is svelte and restrained, and the tannins are the final icing on the cake: fine, shapely and structuring, spooling out through the long finish. It's a little bit chewy but slinky and supple. Delicious. Phwoar.

When the 2018 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon was released, I said it was the best red wine ever produced at the estate. It is the complete picture of Cabernet, and while it speaks to the weightless prowess that Margaret River can achieve, it simultaneously holds a candle to the Cabernets of the world and says "look at me." It has underlying notes of leaf and fresh herbs, Asian spice and bloody, ferrous notes attached to the tannins. It's good to see it again, and evolving so slowly, too. A brilliant wine from a near-perfect season.

In a wonderful sweet spot right now, the 2017 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is imbued with caper brine, pomegranate, redcurrant, raspberries and licorice. It shows finesse and restraint through the long and lingering finish, and although it will age—we know it will—it is incredibly irresistible now. Fine-boned, supple, pliable and complete, it's a beauty and aromatically is the outlier—uber blue, with a high-tone minty character as well.

Hooley dooley. That silken flow of tannin across the mouth, the plump red fruit, the purity of acidity and line through the finish. The 2014 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon spools out, revealing layers of exotic spice and summer berries as it goes. The tannins are the final straw—savory, bloody and ferrous. They contribute poise to this already excellent wine.