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2018
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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Drinking window: Drink between 2029 and 2042 (based on 6 user opinions) |
| Community Tasting History |
| By Campbell Mattinson
The WINEFRONT (2/27/2024)
(Woodlands Xavier) Subscribe to see review text. | By James Suckling
JamesSuckling.com (10/11/2022)
(Woodlands Cabernet Sauvignon Margaret River Wilyabrup Valley Xavier, Red, Australia) Subscribe to see review text. | By James Halliday
Halliday Wine Companion (1/4/2022)
(Woodlands Xavier Cabernet Sauvignon Margaret River) Subscribe to see review text. | By Angus Hughson
Vinous, The Not So Wild West: Margaret River in the Groove (Sep 2022)
(Woodlands Cabernet Sauvignon Xavier Red) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of The WINEFRONT and JamesSuckling.com and Halliday Wine Companion and Vinous. (manage subscription channels) |
| Woodlands Producer Website
Woodlands is a ten hectare vineyard located in the Willyabrup region of Margaret River in Western Australia.
Established in 1973 by David and Heather Watson, Woodlands remains family owned and operated. Woodlands came to fame early on with the release of our 1981 ‘Andrew' Cabernet Sauvignon which took out several major awards.
However, in 1992 Woodlands production virtually ceased while David and Heather focused on raising their children and fruit was sold to other high profile producers in the region.
In 1999, children grown, Woodlands began to produce wines again, making the most of its fully mature vines.
Woodlands now has an annual production of 8000 cases, specializing in red wine, and is family operated. David's son Stuart has been the winemaker at Woodlands since 2002.
Winemaking is minimalist at Woodlands, the emphasis being on small open ferments and excellent barrel selection.2018 Woodlands Cabernet Sauvignon XavierEach 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.Cabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonAustralia Wine Australia (Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation) | Australian Wines (Wikipedia)Western Australia Wine Regions of Western AustraliaMargaret Riverhttps://margaretriver.wine/ |
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