Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot, Cullen, `Diana Madeline` Wilyabrup, Australia

Erin Larkin, The Story of Cullen, Legacy and Vanya, The Wine Advocate.
97 points
The 2022 Diana Madeline is a succulent, powerful, muscular iteration of this vineyard, in what was a warm and excellent season in Margaret River. Raspberry, cocoa nib, iodine, liquorice/aniseed, kelp and a burst of fresh ocean air. This is a spectacular wine; it straddles the divide of warm season/ripe fruit yet retains some characteristics of cooler season/nuanced spice. The blend is 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Malbec that matured for 14 months in 55% new French oak. 13.3% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

2021
96 points
The 2021 Diana Madeline is a fascinating wine, one that feels as if it is evolving before my very eyes. Particularly the tannins, which at this stage possess a capaciousness—they force the walls of fruit outward in the mouth. It's good. At this stage, the tannins feel grippy like Barolo, substantial in this way, and I find this informs the flavours in an all too Italianate direction. A lovely thing. There are roses, petrichor, dried herbs, asphalt, nori, fennel seeds and iodine. 2021 was not an easy Cabernet vintage in Margaret River, nor was it consistently good across the region, yet this is not just a good effort in the season that was but a remarkable wine in and of itself. Kudos. The blend is 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

2020

96 points
The 2020 Diana Madeline is both pure and muscular in the glass, with layers of cassis and dark chocolate, bramble and clove, aniseed and fennel. Pastrami nuances create dimension on the palate, as the ductile tannins provide chew and shape the finish. It matured for 13 months in French oak, a mixture of puncheons and barriques. The fruit spent between 10 and 99 days on skins (average 27) and comprises a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 1% Malbec. As always with this Diana Madeline wine, there is no additions of yeast, acid or malolactic acid in its production. 13.1% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.