‘The Great Cabernet Challenge’
Who will win? Be a part of the 120+
person national judging panel.
A Select 12 Cabernets have made the lineup -
Some are trophy winners, others are gold medalists, best in class, best in show,
or… Awarded the 100 Points Perfect Score
The Melbourne and Sydney events are completed … & now the
Leigh Gerreyn and Wine Animal ‘Roadshow’
is heading for Perth for the deciding verdict.
With Brenden & Leigh’s down-to-earth style and genuine love for wine, they continues to win hearts and make waves throughout the wine industry.
From his tailored experiences that celebrate Australia’s wine culture to with his ever growing social media presence, Brenden has broken the mould and is connecting people to the world of wine!
Dinner: 7pm, 12 Wines & 5 Courses $340
Friday October 25th
Meet Leigh
Behind the Glass
From here in WA
https://www.instagram.com/lifebehindglass
https://www.facebook.com/leighgerreyn/
@lifebehindglass
The new generation and a passionate wine enthusiast, educator and lover with expertise in Margaret River and Italian Wines. Host of behind the glass tastings, delivering highly detailed premium wine events - with a WA focus.
Meet Brendan
From Victoria’s Yarra Valley.
wineanimal.com.au
https://wineanimal.com.au/
https://www.instagram.com/thewineanimal
linkedin.com
My name is Brenden (Brenno). I work as a carpenter during the day, and by night (and any other waking moment), I become a Wine Animal. My journey into wine began around the age of 30, but it didn't truly become a passionate pursuit until I was around 33. Wine evolved into an all-consuming hobby, and as my passion grew, I saw an opportunity to turn it into a legitimate business.
The Cabernet Challenge Info…
Bringing the Cabernet Challenge to you, showcasing 12 of Australia's best Cabernets (including blends) with you being the judges to vote for the best (leaving your WA bias at home please).
4 brackets of 3 wines, served alongside a 4 course feast.
Can Xanadu Reserver take down Mount Mary Quintet, can Cullen Diana Madeline keep up with the multi award winning Yarra Yering No1 and can Moss Wood maintain its place at the top of the cabernet pyramid..? A huge night that both Leigh and myself are extremely excited to host.
The wines being poured are (all served blind but you will know what all 12 are, just not the order being served)
Ticket price includes all wines and food, and if you follow me or you came to the chardonnay event, you will know that I always bring extra wines (ALWAYS) to share and I know it will be a night never to be forgotten. Leigh and myself are extremely honored and excited to host you all!
Expect a huge night with at least 20 wines to be shared, but as always, its the banter and conversation amongst wine lovers that we love. I truly love Perth and cannot wait for more to come.
Strictly Limited to 45 attendees so get in fast and avoid disappointment!
The Cabernets
(In Alphabetical Order)
Cullen Diana Madeline 2020
Has the usual estate blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc and malbec (92/4/3/1%), the grapes hand picked on fruit days between early February and early March, the components matured in French oak (50% new) for 13 months. The perfumed bouquet has already soaked up the new oak, the purity of the fruit in a cassis-redcurrant-blueberry spectrum. The small berries of a quasi-drought summer might have imposed awkward tannins, but the medium-bodied palate is so perfectly balanced it has a drinking span of 30 years and counting.
98 Points James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion (May 2022)
Ripe. slippery blueberry, blackcurrant, mulberry and salty plum fruit reflects the warm, near-drought year and measly yields. Opening up, iodine, tea leaf, tobacco, dried rose and violet nuances emerge. Chocolatey wrap-around tannins gently embrace and build. Gorgeous fluidity and mouthfeel, with an ethereal, gossamer finish, pronounced minerality (lead shot, terracotta, ironstone), and soft but lingering grip. Aged in barriques and puncheons, 50% new, some biodynamic, with 9% amphora-fermented.
98 Points Sarah Ahmed, Decanter (June 2023)
Dark, deep and a really youthful purple colour in the glass. Lifted and complex aromas of cedar, graphite, blackberry, brambles, violets and a briary underbrush edge. Full, rich, layered and complex, lashings of mulberry and blackcurranty fruit, firm, granular, textured tannins and lively acidity. Just beginning its journey and what a journey it shall be
97 Points Aaron Brasher, The Real Review (March 2022)
Grosset Gaia 2022
Very deep and very bright young red-purple colour, that stains the glass. There are fresh, youthful, almost raw aromas of raspeberry, cassis, blackberry and briar, beautifully ripened, the palate very concentrated, dense and full-bodied but not over- the-top. It's powerful, concentrated and backed by a welter of firm tannins, but doesn't sacrifice its elegance. This is a tightly packed, dense and focused cabernet that deserves a decent term in the cellar. It's just a baby today.
97 Points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review (February 2024)
The blend in 2022 is 85/15% cabernet sauvignon/cabernet franc. A hauntingly beautiful rendition of Gaia that's svelte, even, succulent and impressive in persistence. There's immense concentration in its medium weight, compact frame, and tannins shimmer with emery board grip and drag stretching the wine out and tucking in the darker fruit, spice and herbal details. The perfume is rich in dark berries, black olive, mint and fennel with some woody spice overlay – lovely stuff here, too. The quality of tannin needs additional mention. This is such an impressive, elegant wine.
96 Points Mike Bennie, Halliday Wine Companion (April 2024)
Mount Mary Quintet 2019
A quintet of 44% cabernet sauvignon, 30% merlot, 16% cabernet franc and 5% each of malbec and petit verdot, all in harmony. Heady aromatics, the fruit pristine and lightly spiced. But it's the medium-bodied palate that really woos: focused and seamless with superfine yet detailed tannins. Of course it has the beauty and charm of youth but age will send this to another level. Did I mention elegance? Tick.
98 Points Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2021)
Deep, bright, glowing purple/red colour, fresh and youthful. The aromas are superbly ripe and varietal at the same moment, summoning violets, black, red and blue berries, the palate likewise tremendously intense and precise, focused and pure, the oak pretty much invisible. An exquisite fragrance! The wine is medium to full-bodied and beautifully flavoured and structured, the finish long and even, the tannins soft and harmonious. A wine of effortless grace and beauty.
98 Points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review (November 2021)
Moss Wood 2020
The latest Moss Wood cabernet has been released. And yet again it will it snuggly in the top echelon of new release Aussie cabernets. It is a great wine from this great Margaret River estate. But it also a wine with a difference from recent releases, although it is still unmistakably Moss Wood. The most striking thing is that this is one of the prettiest and perfumed of any Moss Wood I can recall. And that’s saying something because Moss Wood is known for its perfumes and aromatics as much as it is for its soft palate profile. This one is also somewhat closed and restrained on the palate now with its firm thread of chalky tannin holding things tightly, to the point where I suspect it will be at least 20 years before it starts to reveal its true potential.
99 Points, Ray Jordan Wine Reviews, Business News 2023
Classical Margert River Cabernet with fresh blackcurrant, panforte flavours, fine grainy/ cedary tannins, underlying roasted chestnut oak notes and linear fresh acidity. Finishes firm and tight with a fine plume of tannin. This has lovely weight and balance with the perfect structure for aging. Drink 2026 – 2040+
98 Points Andrew Caillard – The Vintage Journal
Penfolds Bin 407 2020
Sourced from vineyards in McLaren Vale, Coonawarra, Padthaway and Wrattonbully. Matured for 15 months in French (24% new) and American (12% new) hogsheads. An unambiguously good cabernet in the mainstream of Penfolds' vast knowledge of South Australia's hot (meaning good) spots for the variety. It's a polished, well-balanced expression, with winemaker Andrew Hales having made some lovely Coonawarra cabernets along the way.
96 Points James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2022)
As with the St Henri shiraz, with five regions in play here this is all about varietal expression, measured by a mix of warmer to cooler districts. That allows a broad brush of characters to show themselves here in the immediate cabernet aromas and flavours of cassis, dark berries and fruits of the forest that then get a lovely little tickle of mint derived no doubt from the cooler sources in the Limestone Coast zone. Fifteen months in a mix of French and American oak, a minority new, have offered another layer as well, along the lines of cedar and dark chocolate. There’s lots to love here, from the vibrant cabernet fruit profile to the succulent and expressive tannins that are juicy yet supportive, the palate even and beautifully balanced in its final hurrahs.
96 Points Tony Love, Winepilot (July 2022)
Vasse Felix Tom Cullity 2020
Oh yeah. I expected this to be good and it has delivered. I see the power and concentration of the 2018 and the elegance of the 2019 with the restraint of the 2017. Beautiful, perfumed fruit with tremendous intensity. The palate is totally seamless with a velvety feel to it. So vibrant with an energy and drive that takes it effortlessly to a very long finish. Everything and everything in its place. The intensity of the blackcurrant and red fruit combination is extraordinary, yet it delivers with such finesse and poise. A great, great wine. Pretty and at the same time powerful. With a degree of delicacy and grace.
99 Points Ray Jordan, WA Business News (Mar 2024)
The 2020 season in Margaret River was an interesting one: warm, low yielding and very early (not as early as 2024!), with great marri blossom aromas and responsible for quite tannic, lushly fruited wines. Generally regarded as very good to excellent, the season had the potential to produce wines that were firm and closed, yet it didn't. So here, the 2020 Tom Cullity Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec is floral on the nose, with raspberry pip, rose petals, pink peppercorn, sumac, clove, a hint of sandalwood and sun-dried kelp. In the mouth, it is everything the nose promises, with a splay of ductile tannin that bends and moves with the fruit as it progresses over the palate. This is a super release from a great year; it's very much in line stylistically with the 2018 and 2014 Tom Cullitys. This is made with 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Malbec and 3% Petit Verdot grapes that were handpicked between 28th February and 9th April, then matured for 18 months in French oak (33% new).
98 Points Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (April 2024)
Voyager Estate 2020
There's such a distinct Voyager Estate character to this wine, largely because the fruit comes off the estate vineyard. It's heady with tobacco leaf, nori, dried herbs, mulberries, and cassis. It's savoury and supple and the tannins feel mellow and shapely, there's depth, complexity, and length. It's captivating now but will reward the patient more so.
95 Points Jane Faulkner, The Halliday Wine Companion (February 2024)
…The palate is fresh with red and black fruits and unpinning the fruit is dried thyme and oregano supported by a medium bodied, fine and dusty tannin frame. It’s a reliable wine that any Cabernet lover would adore and still has plenty of gusto to go the distance. Drink now and will cellar for another 15 years.
95 Points Shanteh Wale, Winepilot.com
Woodlands Xavier 2018
Here, today, it is tightly coiled, spicy, and concentrated. The savoury, biscuity oak we often associate with good quality Bordeaux is here in spades, and it encases the kaleidoscopic flavours that lie possible beyond. However, in 10 years, this wine transforms into a powerful and expansive wine of depth, grace, and evocation. From one of Margaret River's greatest all-time vintages, this is a wine for the ages
98 Points Erin Larkin, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2022)
A powerful bold statement from the ’18 vintage. This is cabernet-plus with masses of concentration and intensity packed into a tight palate of great structure and poise. Engages immediately with a wave of blackcurrant and graphite augmented with bay leaf and dark chocolate. Then the awesome power of the palate emerges with growing momentum. The tannins have a chalky feeling while the oak has been perfectly weighted to complement such fruit intensity. A wine with tremendous potential.
98 Points Ray Jordan, The West Australian Wine Guide 2022
Wynns John Riddoch 2019
The refinement of coopers (a result of repeated and long-term R&D over the years) is now starting to emerge as a key part of the success of these new release, premium wines. The selected one or two coopers work to preface the fruit and support the fruit and show the terroir… This is why we drink wine: to taste the place that it came from and to be transported there, if even for a moment. This 2019 John Riddoch Limited Release Cabernet Sauvignon is exceptional—it is pure and has tannic sway and flow, and the palate is steeped in five spice, raspberry, mulberry, cassis and black tea. Inchoate. Don't touch it for seven years at least. Even then...
97+Points Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (August 2022)
Like the 2018 that preceded it, this is a wine of stature, precision and endurance. The tannins are fine and omnipresent, but then a cabernet without tannins would be like a person without purpose. This is direct, forthright and confident, with a core of pure, soft and unfettered berry fruits that cascade over the tongue and trail through the interminable finish. The piercing intensity of fruit on the middle palate echoes in the mouth. Truly, sublime.
97 Points Erin Larkin, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2022)
Xanadu Reserve 2018
Trophy Winner- Wine of Show, Margaret River Wine Show 2020
Trophy Winner- Red Wine of Show, Margaret River Wine Show 2020
Trophy Winner-Best Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River Wine Show 2020
This is probably the finest cabernet yet released from Xanadu. It’s a blend of mostly cabernet sauvignon with small amounts of malbec and petit verdot. It’s a powerhouse loaded with concentrated dark fruit and supported with typically chalky tannins and a decent hit of oak, of which 45% was new French. It’s dense and engaging, yet there is that life and energy that stamps these wines with another dimension. It has many years ahead of it.
99 Points Ray Jordan, Winepilot (June 2021)
92/4/4% cabernet sauvignon/petit verdot/cabernet franc. Fruit from Treeton, Wallcliffe and Wilyabrup. The best barrels of fruit from each area were matured for 14 months in French oak (45% new). It should be said from the outset – this is quite likely the best wine, white or red, ever made at Xanadu. The intersection between a perfect vintage, pedigree fruit and sensitive winemaking look just like this: cassis, blackberry pastille, marri blossom, raspberry, pomegranate, black pepper and star anise. Hints of fennel flower and salty licorice are the lingering impressions. What a wine.
98 Points Erin Larkin, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2021)
Yarra Yering Dry Red No.1 2021
Langton’s Classified – “Outstanding”
Gold Medal – 2022 Melbourne Royal Wine Awards
Gold Medal – Yarra Valley Wine Show 2022
Platinum, 97 Points – Decanter World Wine Awards
…No Australian wine of the modern era exemplifies this profound juxtaposition more emphatically than Yarra Yering Dry Red Wine No 1 2021. I anointed the 2019 vintage Wine of the Year in my inaugural year of editing the Halliday Wine Companion and personally scored it 99 points. The 2021 is unequivocally an even greater wine, with a line and length on an altogether different level. Is this the perfect cabernet blend? It's been nine years since I've rated an Australian table wine 100 points (Grange 2010) and it's time again.
100 Points – Tyson Stelzer
A deep, bright crimson purple. Bordeaux-like with its aromas of cassis, iodine, bay leaf and some olive tapenade. The oak is already well integrated. Powerful and balanced with lots of layers. Ripe, chewy tannins course through the wine's concentrated fruit, yet the overall impression is one of balance and harmony. A serious and complete cabernet.
Yeringberg Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
While this has the exuberance of youth, it is also a composed and classy cabernet. A harmonious blend of mulberries and plums, cedary oak, cigar box and a touch of iodine. The palate is detailed from the ultrafine tannins, the brightness of the acidity to its impressive length. Elegance in a glass.
97 Points Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2021)
Impressively fresh floral aromas here, then a spread of red berries, blueberries and blackberries. Very pure and primary. The palate is elegantly stated and shows a restrained touch, with red-berry and red-plum flavors sitting vibrant and juicy amid smoothly honed, long and ripe tannins. Polished and discreetly powerful. A blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, petit verdot and malbec. Drink or hold.
96 Points James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (January 2022)