2020 Vasse Felix Tom Cullity Cabernet Malbec, Margaret River

99 points Ray Jordon rayjordanwine.com Wine of the Year 2025

The 2020 season in Margaret River was an interesting one: warm, low yielding and very early (not as early as 2024!), with great marri blossom aromas and responsible for quite tannic, lushly fruited wines. Generally regarded as very good to excellent, the season had the potential to produce wines that were firm and closed, yet it didn't. So here, the 2020 Tom Cullity Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec is floral on the nose, with raspberry pip, rose petals, pink peppercorn, sumac, clove, a hint of sandalwood and sun-dried kelp. In the mouth, it is everything the nose promises, with a splay of ductile tannin that bends and moves with the fruit as it progresses over the palate. This is a super release from a great year; it's very much in line stylistically with the 2018 and 2014 Tom Cullitys. This is made with 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Malbec, 1% Petit Verdot and 1% Merlot grapes that were handpicked between 28th February and 9th April, then matured for 18 months in French oak (33% new). For those who care about numbers (me): total acidity is 5.8 grams, with a pH of 3.61. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

98 points Erin Larkin robertparker.com

The colour is not too dark or too youthful but there are earthy, ferrous/ironstone and nori/dried seaweed aromas that team well with the intense and tightly packed palate structure. Firm and long: a serious wine worth cellar space. It's young but there is already a lot of detail. Impressive. 02 MAY 2024 Drink 2025–2040

96 points Huon Hooke therealreview.com

#2 of 35 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon blends from Margaret River

Winemaker Virginia Willcock worries about her flagship wines leaving the fold, as in Heytesbury Chardonnay and Tom Cullity, released too young, she says. And while she’s right, anyone buying them knows time will reward the patient. It’s built for ageing, but I’m impatient, and this Tom Cullity is youthful but also complete. Malbec, off the original plantings, comprises 16% of the blend; 3% petit verdot, too, is fundamental to the shape and flavour profile. Dark-fruited, meaty, spicy, complex, roasted chicory accented, floral and beguiling. Fuller bodied with exceptional tannins, all textural, expansive and long, working in tandem with the acidity to a long finish.

97 points Jane Faulkner winecompanion.com.au May 2024

Bright garnet. An incredibly fruit expressive aroma evoking blackcurrant coulis, with hints of dried rosemary and fresh basil. Pretty floral perfumes of lavender and lily intermingle with traces of native summer forest and fungi. Beautiful transparency of vineyard site is on display as the delicate scent of dried peppy leaf on the banks of the Wilyabrup Brook lifts in the glass, accompanied by cacoa, crayon and an intriguing musk like fragrance. A succulent, creamy entrance brimming with vibrant fruit weight. The concentrated, elegant body embeds on the palate, framed by a super fine, powdery tannin structure. Relaxed in its completeness, the comfortable dry finish lingers on with tantalising flavours of blackcurrant, dark chocolate, and sweet aromatic oak.

Vasse Felix, Margaret River’s founding wine estate, was established by Dr Thomas Brendan Cullity in 1967. Among his first plantings were Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec vines, from which he produced the estate’s first red wine. The Tom Cullity descends from these original vines and represents the purest expression of our history, place and vintage; the pinnacle of Vasse Felix. 

Dr Tom Cullity was a respected Cardiologist from Western Australia. He discovered the great table wines of Europe in the 1950s while in Britain working at the National Heart Hospital. Upon returning home, Tom set himself a mission to make fine wines in WA. He searched extensively for the perfect plot of land, taking guidance from the research of Professor Harold Olmo (1955) and Dr John Gladstones (1965) before establishing an 8 acre vineyard in Cowaramup called Vasse Felix.

Tom’s tenacious and enduring persistence led to the successful creation of Margaret River’s first commercial wines. He is remembered for his pioneering role in establishing the Margaret River Wine Region. The Tom Cullity is a fitting tribute to this extraordinary legacy.