2017 Leeuwin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Art Series Margaret River Western Australia 750 ml

Leeuwin Estate’s Art Series Cabernet might be the most underpriced great wine in the world.

Our Head of Wine, Vanessa Conlin, calls Leeuwin “the benchmark for Australian Cabernet,” while James Suckling has invoked the First Growths, calling Leeuwin the “Mouton Rothschild of Australia.”

This Cabernet has it all: complexity, ageworthiness, and a voice that speaks of its inimitable terroir. If you love Bordeaux or classically structured Napa Cabs, and you don’t have a stack of this wine in your cellar, you need to change that. 

Pouring a rich, warm purple color, the wine’s nose presents restrained yet complex aromas of cassis, blackberry, clove, tobacco, cedar, and a touch of olive tapenade. With a frame like a well-made Bordeaux, you can drink it now and revel in its exquisite structure and freshness, or if you crave the complexity that only aging can bring (and have plenty of patience), wait and see how it evolves over the next two decades. 

The 2017 growing season was blessed with a mild summer and a slow, even autumn that allowed the grapes to achieve optimal ripeness. Leeuwin’s wine team, under the direction of Senior Winemaker Tim Lovett, not only picked by individual parcel but vinified the grapes from each parcel separately. After nine months of barrel maturation, the final blend was assembled and then aged further, spending a total of 22 months in French oak and another two-plus years in bottle.

This benchmark Cabernet is ready to go—you can drink it now and revel in its structure and freshness, or cellar it for a couple decades and watch it evolve. As always, there’s no way to go wrong with Leeuwin.