Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2000

Philip White Top 100 Wines of 2003 

"Go back to the early days and it is fair to say the Cabernet struggled to garner the accolades which were showered upon the Chardonnay. No longer. This is now another jewel in their crown."  Ken Gargett

"Leeuwin Estate is for me one of the most Bordeaux like of Margaret River's top line cabernets."  Angus Hughson 

The Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced primarily from the 1975-planted Block 8. The vineyard, planted with the famed Houghton Selection clone, is meticulously managed to promote the development of high intensity fruit and fine classical grainy tannins. Today, a small percentage of Malbec is included in the blend, giving the wine an inky depth and density.

"Sweet, dense and deep, with vibrant raspberry and currant flavours sweetened by subtle oakiness. A full, rich wine with nicely integrated acidity. Finishes long and subtle, with very fine tannins, a suggestion of chocolaty oak, and lingering sweet fruit. A very good showing."  Stephen Tanzer

"Medium ruby in colour. A complex well integrated wine exhibiting the classic  Cabernet flavours of cassis and red currants intermingled with plums and chocolate. Sweet fruit of rich, ripe red currant is complemented by soft fine-grained tannin and creamy French oak. A wine of medium weight that will continue to improve in the medium term.

Fermentation took place in closed fermenters at temperatures up to 30C with extraction by pumping over each individual lot. After malolactic fermentation in barrels, the components remained in barrels for nine months before transfer to stainless steel tanks for blending. The wine was then matured for a further 15 months in French barriques."  Leeuwin Estate

Expert reviews

"This wine transports you to dream of a life where you could drink such magic every day. Marshmallow sugar seems to dust a bowl of perfectly blended black and blue berries. It's slick, juicy, alive and luxurious, with all its myriad components already melding into a seamless, silky smooth elixir. Let it breath for 12 hours and it seems twice as big."  Philip White, Adelaide Advertiser - 95 points and Australia's Top 100 Wines of 2003 

"I tasted this at a seminar on Australian and New Zealand wines that I led for a group of undergraduate students at Harvard after my return from Western Australia. It was the wine of the night and a perfect accompaniment to roasted lamb. An extra year of maturity beyond the 2001, and perhaps the voyage to the US mellowed it slightly without sapping any of its power or complexity."  Michael Apstein, Wine Review Online – 95 points

"Medium red. Lively aromas of raspberry, currant and chocolate. Sweet, dense and deep, with vibrant raspberry and currant flavours sweetened by subtle oakiness. A full, rich wine with nicely integrated acidity. Finishes long and subtle, with very fine tannins, a suggestion of chocolaty oak, and lingering sweet fruit. A very good showing."  Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar – 92 points

"Well framed blackberry and blueberry fruit on the nose and front palate. Rich dark fruits continue on the mid to back palate, with supporting by not drying tannins giving good structure. A hint of cassis and cedar on the long finish."  Patrick Eckel, Wine Reviewer – 91 points (Tasted Sep 2010)

Forrestal wrote, "Lovely, approachable drinking wine, with richness and concentration. Cassis and velvet." "Soft and lush" said Bourne. A beautiful cedary complexity has built on the nose, and the palate is soft and balanced, finishing with just a hint of greenness. It's ready now, but will also hold for a few more years."  Gourmet Traveller Wine - 90 points

"A very good Leeuwin cabernet, riper and richer than some past vintages, and with less herbal/leafy elements. The nose has earthy interest, black fruit and cassis aromas that have a real juicy tang. Cedary oak is integrated well and it tastes smooth and long with good texture and finely balanced, grainy tannins."  Ralph Kyte-Powell & Huon Hooke, The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide 2004/2005

Awards

Philip White Top 100 Wines of 2003 

The winery

In 1969, Denis and Tricia Horgan purchased a farm and plumbing business in Margaret River that they would eventually transform into Leeuwin Estate, one of Australia's most iconic wineries. At the time they had little interest in wine or plumbing (they sold the business), but in 1972 they met legendary Napa Valley winemaker, Robert Mondavi, who wanted to purchase their farm to plant vineyards. The farm was not for sale, but with Mondavi acting as consultant and mentor, they planted vineyards with the dream of becoming a world-class producer of premium wine.

A nursery was planted in 1974, the vineyards were planted over a five-year period from 1975 and Leeuwin released its first commercial vintage in 1979. The Leeuwin Estate vineyards are planted to Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz, but it is the Chardonnay and to a lesser extent the Cabernet that are the stars of the portfolio. Langton's classifies Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay as 'Exceptional' and one of the Heritage Five which celebrates Australia's most iconic, exceptional and ground-breaking wines - the other four are Penfolds Grange, Henschke Hill of Grace, Mount Mary Quintet and Wendouree Shiraz.

Leeuwin Estate releases its wines under three labels, the Art Series, Prelude Vineyards and Siblings. The Art Series range was created in 1980 and features Australian artwork on the labels.

Denis and Tricia Horgan continue their involvement in Leeuwin Estate, but today it is their two eldest children, son Justin Horgan and daughter Simone Furlong, who run the business as joint chief executives. 

"I fell into the wine industry because Mondavi wanted to buy the land; I thank God that we didn't sell."  Denis Horgan

Art series labels

The Art Series range was created in 1980 and features Australian artwork on the labels.

"I had developed an interest in Australian art in the early days. During a trip to Europe I was invited to meet Baroness Philippine de Rothschild at the Chateau Mouton-Rothschild wine estate in Bordeaux. The winemaker showed me around the winery and art gallery before having lunch with the Baroness.

I was so impressed with the way art had been integrated into the business that I asked Baroness Philippine if she would mind if we used Australian Artwork on our labels. She thought that was a great idea and said, "Go ahead".

So we created the 'Art Series' range in 1980 to define our most opulent and age-worthy wines from each vintage.  The first label carried a painting of our region's famous 'Caves Road' by Robert Juniper. We now have over 150 paintings from Australia's leading contemporary artists in our collection. We display the original artworks in the winery art gallery."  Denis Horgan

The collection now comprises over 150 paintings and features artworks from artists including John Olsen, Arthur Boyd, Sir Sidney Nolan, Lloyd Rees, Albert Tucker, Fred Williams, Robert Juniper, Clifton Pugh and Imants Tillers. The only work not part of the Estate's own collection is Sir Arthur Streeton's Golden Summer, which was kindly offered by its then owner for use on a special Museum Release of the 1987 Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon before moving to its new home at the National Gallery.

Many of the paintings and sculptures were specifically commissioned. Others were discovered in exhibitions around Australia and the artists approached for copyright permission to be reproduced as part of the label series. The first painting commissioned was of Caves Road by Robert Juniper for the 1980 Art Series Chardonnay. John Olsen was approached to paint the first artwork to be used on the Art Series Riesling. He responded with the creation of four works entitled 'Frogs in Riesling'. These paintings were so irresistible that the decision was made to purchase all four and all have been used, in a random pattern, on Art Series Riesling labels ever since. This makes the Riesling unique, as for the labels of all other wines, a new work is commissioned each year.

Sir Sidney Nolan, when approached at the beginning of the series, advised he was not a graphic artist and did not paint for wine labels. He was also a red wine buff and was sent two unlabelled bottles of the 1982 Cabernet Sauvignon – one of Leeuwin's best vintages. He responded that for this wine he would happily provide a painting. This resulted in his Dolphin Rock appearing on the label.

With the high calibre of the artists consenting to appear on the labels, it is no longer a challenge convincing leading artists to be part of this collection. Eventually, as the collection builds, it is hoped to tour it in its own right. Some works have been lent from time to time but most are on display in the Leeuwin Estate Art Gallery.

The concerts

"As one of the world's most isolated wine regions, we wanted to be creative in generating reasons for visitors to come and discover Margaret River and our wines.

Our winery overlooks a meadow surrounded by a forest of tall karri trees, creating a beautiful natural amphitheatre. So in 1985 we wrote to the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, the local Ballet Company and the Opera Company inviting them to consider coming down and doing a concert. The idea of alfresco performances in the bush was extremely novel at the time and we didn't get much interest from any of them.

The then Director of The Festival of Perth, David Blenkinsopp, approached us about that time, asking if we would underwrite the visit to Australia of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, something that somewhat shocked us at the time, huge costs, logistics and all of that – no was the answer, unless they would be prepared to perform in our vineyard.

He went off to London to organise the tour and said he'd talk to the LPO and let me know. To my surprise he came back and said they'd love to perform at Leeuwin, as long as we underwrote the whole Australian tour. Trish thought I was mad, in fact everybody I know thought I was mad, but I said yes!

Funnily enough it was a bit like the wine, we didn't know that much about music and certainly nothing about being concert promoters, however we thought the London Philharmonic Orchestra was a pretty good 'band' to start our concerts with! They really might be worth the risk and we needed to generate a profile for our wine business in a creative way.

So 100+ members of The London Philharmonic Orchestra travelled all the way to Margaret River, we built a stage, did some creative things entertainment wise and all had a fantastic night. The concert was a sell-out; we even had to turn away 500. It made front page news, described as “The most extraordinary concert ever held in Australia."

Our wines were successfully launched nationally at functions held off the back of the concerts throughout Australia – it proved to be a highly successful promotion.

The impact of that first concert guaranteed the future success of our concerts. Whilst it cost a fortune in our underwriting of the total Australian tour it was a highly successful launch pad to promote Leeuwin Estate to all the right people at home and Eastern Australia.

That first Leeuwin Concert was so successful that we continued the relationship with the Festival of Perth for another two years, featuring other international orchestras. Then we thought that we needed to do something different and presented Ray Charles. The new format proved to be even more successful so we decided to stick to that format for a while – 32 years later we have presented an eclectic array of the world's leading musicians at Leeuwin, from Sting to James Taylor, Carole King and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa."  Denis Horgan

Text taken from Milton Wordley's article 'People of Wine', https://winetenquestions.com.au/