Decanter World Wine Awards: Margaret River’s Xanadu Wines wins best in show with 2022 cabernet sauvignon

WA’s Xanadu Wines is one of four Australian wineries to score a best-in-show trophy at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards, held in London on June 18. Established by Dr John Lagan in 1977 and owned by the Rathbone family since 2005, the Margaret River mainstay earned the honour with its 2022 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Made using grapes sourced from Timber Creek in Wilyabrup and Victory Point in Treeton, as well as a small amount of malbec from Xanadu’s Stevens Road vineyard in Wallcliffe, the winning drop sells from the winery’s website for $140 per bottle. Xanadu’s big win capped a successful awards night for Margaret River, with the standout Australian subregion asserting its global reputation for premium cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay. Decanter judges commended the WA wine region, saying: “We’ve known it since back in the 1960s, when (revered agricultural scientist) Dr John Gladstones first suggested that cabernet sauvignon and Margaret River might make a fruitful partnership”. Xanadu’s best-in-show win is the fifth by a Margaret River cabernet in the 22-year history of the wine gongs. The region also snared four platinum medals, including wins for Deep Woods Estate’s 2023 Reserve Chardonnay and Gralyn Estate’s Museum Rare Muscat NV, plus 18 golds. Australia boasts 80 top-scoring wines in its overall haul of 643 medals, including four best-in-show, 11 platinum and 65 gold medals. The four best-in-shows is down on recent results. Australia claimed eight in 2024, and 10 in 2023 — the most for any country. The Decanter World Wine Awards are regarded as one of the world’s largest and most influential wine competitions, renowned for its rigorous judging process. At this year’s awards, 248 international wine experts from 35 countries judged wines from 57 countries. South Australia was the best performing region, claiming 309 medals in total, including best-in-show awards for Wirra Wirra’s The 12th Man Chardonnay 2024 from the Adelaide Hills and Barossa Old Vine Company’s 2022 Shiraz. Australia’s other best-in-show recipient was Heathcote winery Trentham Estate’s 2023 Reserve Shiraz.