2018 Woodlands Cabernet Sauvignon 'Xavier'

Each year the Woodlands Cabernet Sauvignon is named after a family member or friend. The 2018 vintage is named ‘Xavier’ after Andrew and Marie’s son. Born just at the tail end of vintage in May 2018, Xavier has grown to be a charming young man who is currently into dinosaurs, tractors... and Spider-Man! Xavier particularly enjoys eating strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, and in being completely full of fruit he has that in common with this wine!

Our Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from our original plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Cabernet Franc found on our south facing slope. The soil profile of this slope is generally sandy loam over gravel and clay. These four small plots receive the greatest number of sunlight hours on our vineyard, but the east-west orientation of the vines ensures a slow fruit maturation.

The 2018 growing season was absolutely ideal, and will go down in history as one of Margaret River’s greatest. After very good rainfall in the beginning of the growing season, flowering conditions were near-perfect, and great weather persisted from mid-December all the way through to the end of harvest. The wines from 2018 are the most powerful we’ve produced since 2001.

Handpicked between 29 March and 7 April, the fruit was destemmed, hand sorted, crushed and fermented in small stainless steel fermenters. 50% of the wine fermented without the addition of yeast. Following fermentation, the Cabernet Sauvignon portions remained on skins for an average of 21 days, before being pressed and transferred to new French barriques. The wine was bottled unfiltered on the 16th January 2020.

Our 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Xavier’ is a blend of 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Malbec, and 1% Cabernet Franc.

This wine has an extremely dense colour, intensely purple like our Malbec. The nose is very dense and tightly wound on opening - certainly needing time and air to open up fully. Layers of dark fruits, violet, and mixed summer herbs mingle with notes of white peppercorn and juniper. Some tight grain French oak completes the picture.

The palate is all about density and power. Focused and linear, at this stage the palate needs some time to unwind. Violet and dark red fruits appear over a wall of ripe velvety tannin and French oak influences, opening up to reveal more layers of dark fruits, spice and bay leaf.

We recommend cellaring this wine for at least 10 years, best enjoyed between 2030-2045.

Pair with;

Classic French Chateaubriand (extra sauce please!) with sautéed seasonal vegetables.

Well-roasted aubergine with harissa oil. Pomegranates and toasted pine nuts on top, with a basket full of freshly grilled flatbread.