20 of the best reviewed, biggest show winning, or just the finest WA Cabernet Sauvignons from Margaret River.
First three brackets of the tasting are masked… but we’ve provided the wine list in alphabetical order for you below! Here are a few hints…
A Jimmy Watson Trophy, Adelaide Best Cabernet & Most Outstanding Red Wine Winner,
Melbourne Best Cabernet & Blend Winner & Hobart International Wine Show Best Cabernet Winner
A 99 Points Ray Jordan
A James Halliday Cabernet Sauvignon of the Year
6 from 2021 Vintage
5 from 2014 Vintage
2 from 2013 Vintage
1 each from the 2012, 2009,2006, 2007,2000 & 1999 Vintage
The Producer Lineup
Cape Mentelle | Cullen | Houghton | Vasse Felix | Moss Wood
Woodlands | Pierro | Voyager Estate | Howard Park
Leeuwin Estate | Singlefile | Deep Woods
Monday June 2 | WA DAY (Public Holiday)
Hosted By John Jens
Tasting:
3:00pm-5:30pm, 20 of WA’s finest Cabernets and Delicious ‘Help yourself’ Cheese Platters
Tickets: $250.00
The Wine List
(Brackets 1, 2, & 3 in Alphabetical Order)
The first 3 of 4 brackets are masked on the day....
First Bracket - The 2021 Releases
2021 Cullen ‘Diana Madeline’ Cabernet Sauvignon
This is a triumph for the vineyard in what was a challenging year in Margaret River…High end florals on the nose with notes of violet and red berry overpaying the deeper blackcurrant concentration. The oak is well managed and integrated with the tannins firm and chalky providing the structure to support extended ageing. A worthy commemoration of family matriarch Diana Cullen who would have been 100 this year.
98 Points Ray Jordan, Winepilot.com (July 2023)
2021 Deep Woods ‘Reserve’ Cabernet Sauvignon
From the earliest plantings (in 1987) of the estate. It begins piling on points with the bright, clear colour, and doesn’t stop with the bouquet of blackcurrant, bay leaf and airy spices, then flowing on in elegant, medium-bodied mode to a perfectly balanced and mouth-watering finish. Something quite special in its Margaret River context.
98 Points - James Halliday, The Australian
2021 Houghton ‘Jack Mann’ Cabernet Sauvignon
James Halliday Cabernet Sauvignon of the year 2025
This is elegance personified. So smooth, so luscious, so rich and yet it finds levity and a sense of drive. Inky cassis, lavender and violet floral lift, fancy feeling mahogany and new leather elements, clove spice, bay leaf and faint sea spray characters in the mix. It feels quite tightly wound despite its velvety suppleness and flow, tannins in a web of fine, graphite-like mineral accents delivering tension and poise. It's a wine that delivers an experience and visceral pleasure. Drink now after a lusty decant, but save some for long cellaring, too.
98 Points - Panel Decision, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2024)
2021 Leeuwin Estate ‘Art Series’ Cabernet Sauvignon
One of the distinctive features of this wine, and in a way a DNA link to all Art Series cabernet, is its savouriness. It’s the rolled tobacco, nori, iodine and whiff of new leather plus the cedary oak, but these are not separate, they form a whole impression. There’s also the core of excellent fruit, the structure, the supple tannins and the bright acidity. And the joy of drinking it.
97 Points Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2024)
2021 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon
Tyson Steltzer Top 250 Wines of 2024
One of Australia’s great cabernets. This from a cooler season highlights and accentuates the typical bright red fruits and blue fruit mix, especially on the nose. It’s aromatic and perfumed with an African violet scent. The palate as always is so exquisitely balanced and refined. Since 1989 the cabernet has been augmented with the floral bright fruit of cabernet franc and the darker robust black fruits of petit verdot. The palate delivers with a gentle restraint yet there is power deep within. The chalky tannins define a long and focussed finish. A deceptive medium bodied wine that will cellar for many years.
98 Points Ray Jordan, rayjordanwine.com
2021 Vasse Felix ‘Tom Cullity’ Cabernet Sauvignon / Malbec
Today, I am tasting this 2021 Tom Cullity Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec for the first time, as it will be released in several months from now. The growing season in 2021 in Margaret River was challenging. In relation to Cabernet Sauvignon and later-ripening reds, it was wet at times, humid at times, and disease pressure was persistent. Diligent viticulture was the winner. This is certainly lighter and finer than many of the other wines in the lineup—2017 being the exception—but the tannins feel seamless and powdery, perfectly dovetailed into the fruit. This is a beautiful wine and triumphant in the year that was. It is super, one of the finest 2021 Cabernets to be released from Margaret River in this year.
97+ Points Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (April 2025)
2021 Woodlands ‘Graham’ Cabernet Sauvignon
A more elegant, finer version, certainly compared to the previous year. This is a cabernet sauvignon dominant blend with about 4% malbec and a smidgeon of cabernet franc. The key in this cooler year was to strike the balance of oak and fruit with those supporting tannins sitting there. It’s been achieved with ease and the result is wine of great polish and poise showing bright red fruits and a firm structural to ensure its longevity. For now, it is relatively shy and reserved, yet you know that this will only really begin to start its journey in the next few years with many years ahead of it. Floral and fragrant with such a delightful perfume. Very long palate is a feature.
97 points, Ray Jordan, rayjordan.com
Second Bracket - 10 Years From Release
2014 Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon
Blackberry and blueberry aromas with wet earth and bark. Sandalwood undertones. Full body, velvety tannins and a juicy finish. Very agile at the same time. Energy. What a wine for the cellar. Screw cap. Try in 2020.
96 Points James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (June 2017)
2014 Deep Woods Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Trophy – Most Outstanding Red Wine in Show – Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2016
Trophy – Best Cabernet Sauvignon in Show – Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2016
Trophy – Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy for Best
Young Red Wine – Royal Melbourne Wine Awards 2016
Trophy – Best Cabernet Sauvignon Blend or Blend of Bordeaux Varieties – Royal Melbourne Wine Awards 2016
Trophy – Best Cabernet Sauvignon – Royal Hobart International Wine Show 2016
Gold – Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2016
Gold – Royal Sydney Wine Show 2016
Gold – Perth Royal Wine Show 2016
Gold – Wine Show of Western Australia 2016
Gold – Royal Melbourne Wine Awards 2016
Gold – Royal Hobart International Wine Show 2016
In terms of vintage comparison, 2014 and 2012 were very similar. Both were warm and long, with no forced hands in relation to picking decisions and vineyard management. All of Block 3 went in to this wine, albeit a lower volume compared to the Abbey Vale component that filled the gaps. The 2014 vintage Cabernets are just so effortless and full of charm—I cannot overstate how much I love the wines of the 2014 vintage. It has the attraction and plushness of the 2012 vintage, but it has magic and charm that the 2012s can only dream of. The wine went on to win the 2016 Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy at the Melbourne Wine Show, only the fifth time in the history of the trophy that Margaret River has brought home the trophy (the trophy is awarded to the best young red, one or two year old). The 2014 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is fleshy and resplendent with red berries, salted licorice, loads of fresh cocoa nibs and a plethora of dark stone fruits (blood plum, black cherry, damsons). The tannins are everywhere in the mouth, marbled through the fruit, and it extends long through the finish. This is a super wine, with years to go. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
98 Points, Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate (July 2023)
2013 Leeuwin Estate ‘Art Series’ Cabernet Sauvignon
"Deep red/purple: an outstanding colour in depth and hue. The bouquet is clean, fresh and alive with bright black fruit and violet aromas, touches of cedar and toasty oak, the palate very deep and concentrated, with lush fruit and abundant tannins, which counterbalance the fruit and sweetness. A powerful yet elegant cabernet with a very long and distinguished future ahead of it. An outstanding, profound wine."
97 Points Huon Hooke, The Real Review (June 2017)
2012 Singlefile ‘Philip Adrian’ Cabernet Sauvignon
From the Riversdale Vineyard, matured in high quality cedary French oak. A remarkable fusion of intense varietal character,and an almost airy, open-weave texture and structure courtesy of sensitive winemaking extracting just enough fine-grained tannins to provide a complete wine.
96 Points James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion (June 2021)
2014 Voyager Cabernet Sauvignon
90% cabernet sauvignon, 6% merlot and 4% petit verdot. Deep, bright purple-crimson hue; the expressive indeed, perfumed bouquet points the way for the elegant medium-bodied palate, where juicy fruit, oak and tannins are fused seamlessly together. An appropriate wine for Voyager's 40th anniversary, certain to celebrate its 50th. The difficulty will be keeping your hands off it.
98 Points James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion
Third Bracket - 10 Years From Release
2013 Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Sauvignon
A bright crimson 73/20/7% blend of cabernet, merlot and franc, aged for an average of 17 months in French barriques (60% new). This was Cullen's greatest wine until the arrival of the Vanya Cabernet, and remains one of Australia's greatest cabernet blends, the only real competition coming from other Margaret River blends. The bouquet is perfumed, the palate fluid and graceful, notwithstanding the intensity of its cassis et al fruits which give the wine its awesome length, fine tannins its balance.
98 Points James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion (June 2021)
2014 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon
… is as close to perfect as any Margaret River has produced – and it gets my highest-ever score – the best Moss Wood cabernet yet and a drop that I award my highest-ever score. A truly great wine and the best ever to come out of this magical region.
99 Points Ray Jordan In a 2017 Saturday’s The West Australian.
2014 Vasse Felix ‘Tom Cullity’ Cabernet Sauvignon
A very insightful blend of predominantly cabernet sauvignon with 16% malbec and 4% petit verdot. This is a single-vineyard wine at the pinnacle of the endeavors of Vasse Felix. It opens with red fruits in the redcurrant and red-cherry zone, as well as fresh red and purple flowers with some deeper notes of blue fruit. The palate is the star though. The way that the malbec entwines itself around cabernet's linear tannins and enriches the wine without fundamentally changing its shape is genius. A supple, fresh and commanding Margaret River red. Best from 2022. Screw cap.
98 Points James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (June 2018)
2014 Woodlands ‘Matthew’ Cabernet Sauvignon
On the palate it is rich, ripe, and very intense, with firm ripe tannins and great length. This wine has great potential.
95-97 Points, Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate
Fourth Bracket - 15 to 25 Years From Release
2009 Pierro ‘Reserve’ Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
There is in fact also cabernet franc, petit verdot and malbec in the blend, matured in new French oak. It is part of a deliberate move to lower alcohol levels for this blend from Margaret River, elegance preferred over power, cerebral pleasure over hedonism. Whether this gives the best outcome in every vintage remains to be seen.
94 Points James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion (June 2021)
2007 Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Sauvignon
This is as close to perfection as one can imagine in terms of structure, texture and its complex fruit flavours. Great now, greater still in another 10 years, and who knows how long thereafter. Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Petit Verdot.
97 Points James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion (June 2021)
2006 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon
"On first impression this is cooler, finer and more leafy and herbal than the epic 2005, which makes its roast nut oak more prominent. But all it needs is time for its blackcurrant fruit to emerge. This will be a slow ageing Moss Wood which remains finely structured and approachable throughout its long life."
96 Points - Tyson Stelzer, WBM Top 100, July 2009
2000 Howard Park ‘Abercrombie’ Cabernet Sauvignon
1999 Houghton ‘Jack Mann’ Cabernet Sauvignon
A blend of cabernet sauvignon and malbec from Frankland River, a true tribute to the wine style of the late Jack Mann. Dense purple-red, the rich and concentrated bouquet oozes sweet blackcurrant/cassis, the huge, ultra-concentrated fruit of the palate balanced by appropriately firm tannins and lavish oak.
97 Points James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion (June 2021)