Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 (Margaret River)

We had a great summer leading up to vintage, although a rain event about a week or so before the start of harvest lead to some unusually humid conditions (for Margaret River at least). Careful fruit selection in some vineyards was required as a result of the humidity, despite experiencing good weather during the white harvest. The end of the whites saw a bit more rain, which was then followed by fine weather for the rest of March setting up the Cabernets nicely. In summary 2021 was a more challenging season than usual, however the extra work in the vineyard ultimately paid dividends with some wonderfully elegant wines being produced as a result. Fruit for this wine was predominantly sourced from the Margaret River subregions of Wilyabrup (40%) and Wallcliffe (44%). Of this Wallcliffe fruit, 39% is from our Xanadu & Stevens Road vineyards. This is augmented along with fruit from the Treeton subregion (8%), and a portion from a vineyard in Yallingup (8%).

Cabernet Sauvignon (90%), Malbec (6%), Petit Verdot (4%)

Fruit was crushed/de-stemmed before predominantly small batch fermentation in a combination of static and open fermenters. Fermentation takes 7-8 days at 24-26˚C, during which the cap is managed using a combination of aerative pumping over as well as regular plunging by hand. After fermentation 20% of the components experienced a period of extended maceration on skins before a very gentle pressing. MLF takes place in a combination of tank and barrel. The wine was matured for 14 months in French oak (40% new barriques) before the blend was assembled prior to bottling.