The Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 scored 97 out of 100, carries a 25-year cellaring window, and sells for $36.99. It took Best of the Best in Ray Jordan’s Top 100 Reds 2026, ahead of the Evans & Tate Redbrook Estate Shiraz 2023 on 96.
This year’s tasting to find the best wine selling for less than $50.00 a bottle was “a real shootout between the 2023 West Australian vintage and the 2024 vintage from other states”, Jordan wrote. The four wines that made the final taste-off all came from Western Australia, showing the state’s depth when it comes to Australia’s best red wines.
When someone like Ray Jordan gives us a list of wines that he thinks are the best drops, we listen and take a lot of notes. But who is Ray Jordan?
Four decades of tasting notes
Jordan has been writing about wine for more than 40 years. His first articles ran in early issues of the national wine magazine Winestate in the late 1970s, while he was working in Sydney as a newspaper correspondent. Between 1989 and 2023 he wrote more than 3,000 columns as a regular newspaper wine columnist. He is the author of the WA Wine Review, and of its earlier title, the WA Wine Guide, which he wrote from 2000 to 2022.
He authored (and co-authored) multiple books about wine, and in 2011, the WA Wine Press Club awarded him the Jack Mann Memorial Medal for his contribution to the state’s wine industry. He currently writes a regular column for Business News and contributes to the wine platform Wine Pilot.
To say he knows wine is an understatement. It’s like saying the other Jordan knows how to play basketball.
How does he judge the Top 100?
Every wine in the tasting sells for less than $50.00, and the list is split across four price brackets to make it easy to navigate your own wine journey:
- under $15.00
- $15.00 to $25.00
- $25.00 to $35.00
- $35.00 to $50.00
Each wine carries a score out of 100, and Jordan judges each bracket on its own terms. And he shows that you don’t always have to spend a lot to get a great bottle of wine. “Quite simply, you can get highly drinkable wines selling at less than $15.00 in Australia,” Jordan says.
Cabernet came through strongly across every bracket. “We should be drinking a lot more of this great grape variety,” Jordan says. That, of course, is no secret to anyone who’s made a trip to Margaret River, where the cabernets are part of the region’s soul.
Our picks from Ray Jordan’s Top 100
We’ve pulled a few wines from each price bracket based on what we like the most, and what we think you will enjoy. They are obviously all from WA, and we’ve added some notes so you know what to put on the table alongside them.
$15.00 to $25.00
| Wine | Pairs with |
| Nikola Estate Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre 2025 | Roast lamb, charcuterie, or spiced slow-cooked dishes |
| Forest Hill Highbury Fields Cabernet Sauvignon 2024 | Roast beef, grilled steak, or hard aged cheeses |
| Wills Domain Mystic Spring Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 | Slow-cooked beef, winter casseroles, or grilled red meat |
| Ferngrove Estate Shiraz 2023 | Roast lamb, grilled meats, or mushroom dishes |
$25.00 to $35.00
| Wine | Pairs with |
| Amelia Park Shiraz 2023 | Braised beef, rich stews, or venison |
| Leeuwin Estate Prelude Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 | Roast duck, game birds, or herb-crusted lamb |
| Vasse Felix Filius Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 | Rack of lamb, roast beef, or mushroom dishes |
| Frankland Estate Shiraz 2023 | Roast lamb, beef ragù, or mushroom dishes |
| Fervor No Royalty Syrah 2023 | Mushroom risotto, roast pork, or charcuterie |
| Lenton Brae Cabernet Merlot 2023 | Cheeseboards, roast chicken, or lighter red meats |
| Forest Hill Vineyard Malbec 2025 | Barbecued lamb, grilled meats, or anything with chimichurri |
$35.00 to $50.00
| Wine | Pairs with |
| Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 | Standing rib roast, aged steak, or slow-roasted lamb |
| Evans & Tate Redbrook Estate Shiraz 2023 | Roast lamb, duck, or mushroom dishes |
| Cherubino Laissez Faire Syrah 2023 | Duck, charcuterie, or roasted vegetables |
| Wills Domain Eightfold Shiraz 2022 | Kangaroo, game meats, or peppered steak |
Download the Top 100 Catalogue Now
The Ray Jordan Top 100 Red Wines 2026 catalogue is available here and at most Liquor Barons stores, with specials running from August 1st to 16th. Many of the wines are limited releases and stock varies by store, so availability won’t be the same everywhere.
After you pick up a bottle from the list, we’d love to know what you thought about it.
