Woodlands Clementine Cabernet Blend (2018)

Woodlands is one of the founding estates of Margaret River, planted by the Watson family in 1973 and a benchmark name for the region's Cabernet ever since - in the long-running Cape Mentelle blind tastings their reds have finished alongside, and ahead of, some of Bordeaux's most famous names. The Clementine is their Brook Vineyard Cabernet blend, named after Andrew and Marie's daughter and made only since 2015 as the family gets to know the site.

It comes off the Wilyabrup Valley, the heart of Margaret River Cabernet country - a maritime, gravel-soiled subregion Decanter has called "the Pauillac of Margaret River." The fruit is hand-picked and sorted berry by berry from organically tended, dry-grown vines, then made in the classic Bordeaux mould: Cabernet Sauvignon at the core, filled out with Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot and a little Cabernet Franc, and matured in French oak.

The result is deep crimson and properly perfumed - blackcurrant, blueberry and dark plum lifted by violet, with cedar, tobacco and a touch of spice underneath. It's medium-bodied and supple rather than heavy, the tannins fine and the finish fresh, so it drinks well now but has the structure to hold. Serve at 16-18°C.