Winemaker Notes
Bright deep purple. Fantastic complexity and vibrancy with layers of dark fruits complimented by some herbal notes.
?Elegant and poised: silky palate delivering blueberry, currant notes and some cacao bitterness. Another fantastic vintage for our flagship and to be enjoyed over the next few decades.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
2017 was a long growing season, cooler than average. Following significant March rains, fine April weather came to the rescue, with picking taking place between 12 March and 12 April 2017. Aged for 18 months in oak, 40% new, the tannins are fine but youthfully pixellated, seeming to absorb and blot the palate-staining fresh blackberry and currants with sweeter mulberry notes, followed by suggestions of cedar, bitter chocolate, gravel and earth. It has the drier, tobacco-led edge of a cooler year. Promising.
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James Suckling
Extremely refined and full of tension with blackberry, currant and licorice character. Hints of wet earth. Medium to full body. Firm and silky tannins. Flavorful finish. From biodynamically grown grapes. Better after 2021. Screw cap.
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Wine Enthusiast
Like all of Cullen's top reds, this Bordeaux-style blend—made from the winery's home block of biodynamically farmed fruit—is still a baby. Its youth is particularly pronounced in a cool vintage like 2017, but with time to open up, it hints at extraordinary things for the future. Whispers of dried rose petal, clove, wild currant, red cherry, seaweed and minerals are tucked into a bed of chocolaty, spicy oak, which will integrate with time. The luscious, high-toned fruit is held together by fine, nervy tannins. Put this far out of reach, and don't touch for at least another five years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Diana Madeline hails from a cool, wet season—the coolest and wettest since 2006. Aromatically, this wine leads with cassis and aniseed, nori and raspberry pip. On the palate, some meaty nuances emerge, and the wine has a very fine tannin structure that cascades through the finish. It's a lighter wine in this year. The blend is 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot and 3% Malbec. 12.9% alcohol.
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Wine & Spirits
Cullen’s blend of cabernet sauvignon (81 percent), merlot, petit verdot and malbec is detailed with anise and red licorice notes, and an explosion of roses and violets, all of it rising off the wine’s clean, plummy flavors. The gentleness of the wine’s texture belies its firm structure, elegant and built to age.
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Wine Spectator
Rosemary, sage and bay leaf notes add a fresh green edge to the currant, plum and blueberry flavors, with spice accents and cigar box aromatics. The tannins are dense but polished, never getting in the way even as they firm up on the finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Home to some of Australia’s most elegant and long-lived red and white wines, Margaret River is situated in the farthest reaches of Western Australia. Relatively warm and dry, the region is cooled by breezes from the Indian Ocean. Margaret River takes some inspiration from Bordeaux, producing top-quality Cabernet Sauvignons and Bordeaux Blends with firm structure, mouthwatering acidity, balanced alcohol and notes of herbs and spice. For white wines, refreshing blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon as well as complex, age-worthy Chardonnays are regional specialties.