2023 Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet, Margaret River

Put bluntly, this is perhaps the finest young Australian Cabernet I can recall seeing. It is simply brilliant. The blend is 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Merlot, with that last one percent a mix of Malbec and Petit Verdot. The maturation was for fourteen months in French oak, with 40% of it new.  An inky dark maroon colour, this is concentrated and seamless. We have aromas of dark, rich chocolate, cocoa beans, plums, beefstock, graphite, mulberries, cloves and blackberries. Elegance and refinement here, this is all class and there is wonderful length, with the wine finishing with the silkiest tannins. There is immaculate balance and amazing intensity and yet the wine dances with freshness and energy. The image that keeps appearing here is Muhammed Ali at his peak, dancing with grace. The more time in the glass or in an open bottle you can give it, the more rewards will come. Surely one of the greatest Cabernets made in this country, perhaps Vanya’s best ever, and it confirms that 2023 in Margaret River, a region of seemingly endless fine vintages – is truly special. Why not 100? I do feel it deserves it, but I simply do not trust Vanya not to come up with something even better next vintage.

99 points Ken Gargett winepilot.com

The 2023 Diana Madeline is an exciting wine. The 2023 season was mild, dry and quite spectacular. There was some rain at the very end of the red harvest, and this was a very site-specific thing, not widespread over the region. Aromatically, the wine is intensely perfumed: graphite and pressed lavender, wet rose petals, raspberry pip, liquorice, concrete and summer rain. This gives everything that I could hope for in an early-release Cabernet: dark fruit and exotic spice, mineral detail and more. The chalky and fine tannins shape the palate and spool out long over the finish. Is this the finest and best Diana Madeline made to date? Perhaps! What a wine. Highly recommended. It's the perfect example of great Australian Cabernet: power without weight. Look no further. 13.7% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. Here, the fruit was handpicked over seven dates, starting middle of March and culminating on a moon opposite the Saturn astral event in early April. The blend is 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot, with the 1% balance comprising Malbec and Petit Verdot.

98 points Erin Larkin robertparker.com

A wine needing very little introduction. Hence, piffle here in the intro.

The quality of tannins is the part of the great experience, suede, refreshing, persistent, but you can see the pedigree of the wine in detail of dark berry fruits, espresso, mocha, chocolate and liquorice then bay leaf, brine and sea spray, salt bush and mahogany; all this delivers so much to the experience in its layers and layers. It sets out at medium weight and glides, an elegance, a confidence in balance and the harmony on hand. That it is generally just outrageously delicious is the wine’s ace in the hole. Nota bene the dark roast coffee/mocha is noted here and lends a little piquant bitterness and gummy elements in the finish. Quality writ large is the mainstay; top flight stuff.

96+ points Mike Bennie winefront.com.au

Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Sauvignon is one of Australia’s most iconic red wines and the flagship of Cullen Wines in Wilyabrup, Margaret River. Named in honour of Diana Madeline Cullen, one of the founding pioneers of the region, the wine represents the pinnacle of biodynamic Cabernet-based blends in the country.

The Diana Madeline is a Bordeaux-style blend, typically made up predominantly of Cabernet Sauvignon with varying amounts of Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc, depending on the vintage. The fruit comes entirely from Cullen’s certified biodynamic estate vineyards, planted in the late 1960s on ancient, gravelly soils over clay. These dry-grown, low-yielding vines produce incredibly concentrated, balanced fruit, and the estate’s long-standing commitment to biodynamics enhances the expression of both site and season.

Winemaker Vanya Cullen, daughter of Diana and Kevin Cullen, has elevated this wine to world-class status. She is regarded as one of Australia’s most visionary winemakers and one of the foremost advocates of biodynamic viticulture. The winemaking is gentle and intuitive. Fruit is hand-picked according to the biodynamic calendar, fermented with indigenous yeasts, and matured in fine-grained French oak (usually 30–50% new) for around 18 months.

In the glass, Diana Madeline offers layered aromatics of cassis, redcurrant, bay leaf, pencil shavings, violet, and earth. The palate is seamless, medium to full-bodied, driven by vibrant acidity and ultra-fine tannins. Its structure is elegant rather than overpowering, with incredible purity of fruit and minerality. A wine of immense ageability, top vintages can cellar for 20 to 30 years.

Critics routinely place Diana Madeline alongside the great wines of Bordeaux. The 2021 vintage was awarded 99 points by Erin Larkin, who described it as “a wine of extraordinary finesse, clarity and definition.” James Halliday has called it “a national treasure.” Vintage after vintage, it earns its place among the best red wines of the Southern Hemisphere.

Ideal food matches include rosemary-crusted lamb rack, slow-roasted beef, or eggplant parmigiana. It also sings with mature cheeses like Comté or clothbound Cheddar.