1996 Cabernet Sauvignon Art Series

Leeuwin Estate, located in the Margaret River region of Western Australia, is best known for its Art Series Chardonnay, a Burgundian-styled wine that is one of the classiest chardonnays produced outside France. The rather mild Mediterranean climate, tempered by the surrounding ocean, also enables Leeuwin to produce an elegant Art Series cabernet sauvignon, a wine typically closer in style to Bordeaux than to most cabernets made on the southeastern side of Australia.x000D x000D x000D x000D Leeuwin cabernet was originally planted in 1975, on what owner Dennis Horgan describes as a "granite island" that originally formed when the continental shelves split, leaving a 60-mile long area between Cape Naturaliste to the north and Cape Leeuwin to the south. Unlike many other properties in the area, there's little sand on the property, and thus no pooling of water. The region gets a healthy 45 inches per year of rainfall, of which very little falls during the key months of the growing season, but the deep gravelly soil is able to store reserves sufficient to get the vines through the summer. Still, without recourse to irrigation, yields at Leeuwin are very low by Australian standards-typically just 2.2 to 2.4 tons per acre for cabernet, according to Horgan, perhaps 3 in a copious vintage. In recent years, the estate has moved to somewhat later harvesting, and this strategy has produced wines that are more approachable in their youth but that have the rich, ripe tannins to support aging. Later harvesting has also reduced the vegetal qualities often found in the wines prior to 1990.x000D x000D x000D x000D Beginning with the '94 vintage, the wine has become a true Bordeaux blend, according to Horgan, with bits of petit verdot, malbec, merlot and cabernet franc. But it will always include at least 85% cabernet sauvignon, the legal minimum for varietal labeling. The percentage of new oak varies according to the vintage, but is usually around 60%, all from Nevers and Limousin (the estate's chardonnay is made in 100% new barrels). The Art Series cabernet is bottled nearly two years after the harvest, then aged for another couple of years prior to being released. I sampled the following series of wines in New York with Horgan and his American importer Rob McDonald (Old Bridge Cellars, San Francisco, CA). (I have also included a more recent note on the '96 release, published in Issue 91.)