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Cullen Diana Madeline 2020

$215.00 inc. GST

Accolades:
5 stars – Fergal Gleeson
98/100 – Decanter
98/100 – Halliday Wine Companion
98/100 – Winsor Dobbin
97/100 – Aaron Brasher, The Real Review
96/100 – Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
95/100 – James Suckling

“Ripe. slippery blueberry, blackcurrant, mulberry and salty plum fruit reflects the warm, near-drought year and measly yields. Opening up, iodine, tea leaf, tobacco, dried rose and violet nuances emerge. Chocolatey wrap-around tannins gently embrace and build. Gorgeous fluidity and mouthfeel, with an ethereal, gossamer finish, pronounced minerality (lead shot, terracotta, ironstone), and soft but lingering grip. Aged in barriques and puncheons, 50% new, some biodynamic, with 9% amphora-fermented.” – Decanter

“The perfumed bouquet has soaked up the new oak, the purity of the fruit in a cassis/redcurrant/blueberry spectrum. The medium-bodied palate is so perfectly balanced it has a drinking span of 30 years and counting.” – James Halliday

“If a case or two of this washed up on a deserted island I was stranded on, I’d bury the flare gun; not wanting to be saved! Cullen Diana Madeline 2020 has one of the prettiest nose’s you’ll come across with black and purple fruits, florals and a hint of briars. Great burgundies’ aromatics dazzle but so do those of great Cabernets. The biodynamically grown grapes are front and centre with Diana Madeline. It’s 4K Ultra High Definition Cabernet, vivid, vivacious with beautiful detail. Alcohol is a moderate 13% but it’s not underpowered. This is very satisfying, balanced with pure fruit and fine grained tannins. Who says top shelf Cabernet has to be heavy and tannic? Not Cullen Wines. 2020 Diana Madeline is fetching with immediate appeal. Get your hands on a few bottles if means allow. This is a wine that will live long in the memory.” – Fergal Gleeson

“The Australian wine classic that remains a bargain […] 2020 vintage was a hot, dry one in Margaret River. producing low yields and wines that were generally aromatic, balanced and pretty. The Diana Madeline is elegant and beguiling. The blend is largely cabernet sauvignon with smidgens of merlot, cabernet franc and malbec, which gives a Bordeaux-like refinement with mulberry, cranberry and salted caramel notes on the palate. It is a vivid wine with an eminently sensible 13% alcohol level. The 50% new French oak is already well integrated and plays second fiddle to the quality dark and fragrant fruit.” – Winsor Dobbin

“Dark, deep and a really youthful purple colour in the glass. Lifted and complex aromas of cedar, graphite, blackberry, brambles, violets and a briary underbrush edge. Full, rich, layered and complex, lashings of mulberry and blackcurranty fruit, firm, granular, textured tannins and lively acidity. Just beginning its journey and what a journey it shall be. Drink 2022 to 2042.” – Aaron Brasher, The Real Review

“Great detail in that the wine comes from nine picks across fruit and flower days of the biodynamic calendar, spread across a month-ish lunar cycle. The Cullen way. Another beautiful, soulful release, this one a bit darker, a bit bolder, a mesh of tannins over train tracks and tension, but a wine of significant pedigree and wow factor nonetheless. Dark chocolate and graphite aromas with salted plum, black olive, bay leaf and oyster shell. Flavours ripple with authority in that weave of tannin, dark choc again, panforte perhaps more apt, dark cherry, saline minerality, more bayleaf and cinnamon spice. Succulent in the finish, mouth-watering and very fresh. Compelling stuff.” – Mike Bennie

“This is bright, layered and gently herbal cabernet-based blend with a deliciously textured array of black fruit, mint chocolate, iodine, olive stones, eucalyptus and bay leaves. Medium-bodied, with firm yet well-integrated tannins. Savory. Creamy and fine at the end. 92% cabernet sauvignon, 4% merlot, 3% cabernet franc and 1% malbec. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.” – James Suckling

Tasting Note: 100% Cullen Vineyard. 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 1% Malbec, harvest dates included 2 Moon Opposite Saturn events and two Full Moon’s – one being a fruit day perigee and the other a Moon Opposite Saturn flower day. These took place from 8th February until 10th March. Aged 13 months in 50% new oak. Bouquet: Mulberry, chocolate, rose, iodine, salty plum. Palate: First impressions have juicy berry fruit, mulberry, plum, cherry, This unctuous fruit is framed by fine grained tannins and Wilyabrup earth, ironstone, and dust which expresses the heat of the vintage and compliments the concentration of the fruit. Cellar up to 50 years.

Certification: Organic, Biodynamic

Alcohol: 13.0%

Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon blend

Region: Margaret River, Western Australia

In stock