DIANA MADELINE CABERNET SAUVIGNON MERLOT 2002

  
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Perhaps Cullen's best-known wine, this blend was recently included in the prestigious Langton Classification of Australian Wines. The vines planted in 1971 are 30 years old. On average the yields are around two tons per acre, or 26 hectolitres per hectare, giving great concentration to the wine. They are grown on the Scott Henry trellising system, which yields grapes with ripe tannins and flavours. This wine is typically a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. The varieties are vinified separately and matured in French oak for 18 months. The result is a deeply coloured wine with great depth of flavour, fine grain tannins and outstanding cellaring potential.

Tasting notes   Reviews
   

The cool and even conditions that extended throughout summer and into autumn led to the production of some of the very best Cabernet Sauvignon fruit ever seen at the Cullen Estate Vineyard. Consequently, it was decided to invest this Bordeaux blend with a greater amount of this variety than usual. Thus, Cabernet Sauvignon contributes as much as 80% to this wine, with the remainder comprising 12% Merlot and 8% Petit Verdot. The fruit was picked at 13 to 14º Baumé and was matured for 19 months in French oak, of which 45% was new.

Colour: Mulberry red with crimson tinges.
Bouquet: Fragrant, perfumed, complex and seductive.
Palate: Elegant, long and persistent, with the rich blackcurrant cassis, wild berry and cherry characters perfectly integrated with the vanillin oak. A complete and perfectly balanced palate.
Cellaring: 10 - 20 years
Food: Lamb, beef and venison

 

  

Peter Forrestal, Top 10 WA Wines
The Sunday Times November 2004

"Over the past decade, Vanya Cullen has refined this stellar blend. It has been consistently outstanding yet becomes finer, more complex and more deserving of cellaring with each passing vintage."

Colin Climo
Australia Medicine. October 2004

To understand Australia cabernet, it's best to begin with the best. From a cooler vintage, Vanya Cullen has crafted a wine with a beautifully integrated, complex nose and great intensity and flavour concentration on the palate. A wine of balance, elegance and finesse, it needs at least 10 years cellaring.