2021 Leeuwin Estate "Art Series" Cabernet Sauvignon 750mL - 6 Bottle Pack

THE YEAR

98% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Malbec

2021’s mild summer vintage produced wines showcasing excellent varietal definition with incredible length and clarity.
2020’s winter was typically wet and windy with heavy falls in July, August, and September, resulting in close to average rainfall. Chardonnay was the first variety to burst in the last week of August, followed by the Riesling and Cabernet through late August and September. Chardonnay cap fall was mostly complete by November 10. Summer was warm with few hot days experienced. Veraison was first noted in the estate Pinot Noir vineyards during the final days of December, while Chardonnay veraison commenced in the first week of January. Bird nets went onto the vineyards through early January, although a substantial and prolonged show of Marri blossom in the region kept the birds out of the vineyards until March when its flowering was complete.
Rain in April, alongside sunny mild days and cool nights allowed the reds to develop beautiful ripe skin tannins, flavour and sugar ripeness. Harvest of the Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz began in the final days of March, with the last of the estate fruit picked on April 18.

TASTING NOTES
The nose is greeted by blackcurrants and dark cherries alongside anise, clove, cardamom, and bay leaf. It is highly lifted and perfumed with lavender and basil flowers. Complexity is evident with iodine, saline and petrichor notations. Drive, direction and line formulate the shape and frame on the palate. Dark forest fruits surround cedar, olives, and graphite. There is distinct minerality threaded within, leading to a fine silky tannin profile.

VINIFICATION
After individual berry sorting and cold soaking, fermentation took place in closed, static fermenters at temperatures between 26C-30C with extraction by pumping over each individual parcel three times daily. After malolactic fermentation entirely in barrels and 9 months of barrel maturation, separate parcels were blended for further maturation in French Bordelaise coopered barriques with seasonal rackings. This wine spent 22 months in total in oak.

Reviews:

Leeuwin Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

“Immediately captivating: the nose is vibrant and energetic, while simultaneously the epitome of elegance and poise with restrained fruit power. This is a silk evening gown of a wine: form-fitting, precisely tailored, mellifluous and effortlessly chic. Abundant in aromatics and lifted perfume, fine red fruits include wild strawberry tip, bramble and just-ripe blackcurrant, alongside hints of piquancy: Szechwan pepper, clove and a fine dusting of deep, lightly toasted cocoa powder. There’s a charismatic iodine weave, the savoury and slightly saline minerality proving a foil to both the fruit flesh and the floral hues. Displaying extremely fine-grained tannins, it's firm, focused and delicate, with a graphite line, fresh acidity and plenty that will reveal itself in good time.” 96 points, Cassandra Charlick, Decanter

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.” 96 points, Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion

“The potential here is almost unlimited. In fact, it may well become the best Leeuwin cabernet yet. It’s stylish and brilliant expression of variety, location and vintage. Perfumed red and black fruits with a violet lift. Just a trace of bay
leaf and a little seashell minerality. The palate is elegantly structure but there are firm fine bony tannins and ample oak to support and draw it through to a sustained finish. Has all it needs to handle extended cellaring.” 96 points, Ray Jordan, WA Wine Review 2025

“The 2021 Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon will be released in the winter of 2024, and it's an interesting timeline, given the 2020 will be released this February. The 2021 season in Margaret River was frequently wet, and as a result, the character of the red wines is lighter in body and fruit weight. This 2021 wine is lighter in the glass than the 2020 (no surprise, given berry sizes in general in 2020), and the nose introduces dried herbs and exotic spice, alongside the raspberry, cassis and nori. Block 8 and block 9, which make up the backbone of this wine, are dry-grown, and this is an important point in the years that are markedly wet (2021, 2006) and dry (2024, 2022, 2020, etc.). On the palate, the wine is perfumed and fine, lightweight and flowing. It's a beautiful wine to drink now, thanks to its powdery tannins. It's all about the tannins here; it's whippy, like fresh new growth on plant. I would drink this anytime from release; it offers tremendous pleasure just as it is.” 95 points, Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate

"98% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Malbec. I tasted this wine in a vertical of Cabernet with winemaker Tim Lovett back in May, first thing in the morning, and again, just now, sans hangover. I thought I’d put both notes in, just for the sake of completeness. I was waiting for the wine to arrive before I published my note."

May24: Black olive, savoury, darker fruit, some red in the mix, a little mint. Dense, very mineral feel to acidity, some crunch to tannin, redcurrant and fine grip to close. Tim says it’s epic , but no lemon myrtle (which is a joke around me missing a perfect descriptor for their 2021 Chardonnay). Pushes through. Really good. Much like the 2019, though less concentrated. 94-95 points.

Sep24: Black fruit, seaweed, black olive, aniseed and mint, bay leaf, spice and cedar. It’s medium-bodied, distinctly saline and savoury, has a firm redcurrant crunch to acidity, and while the tannin is maybe a little scratchy, they sit well within the wine and give it something of a peppery/dusty feel, and the finish is long and quite frisky. It’s a lovely wine, and I’m often guilty of underrating LEAS Cab as a young wine, so bear that in mind." 94+ Points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front