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Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Merlot 2022

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Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Merlot 2022
  • Huon Hooke
    98 Points
  • Ray Jordan
    98 Points
  • Wine Pilot
    98 Points
    Halliday 5 Red Stars Winery
Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Merlot 2022
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Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Merlot 2022

SKU: CUDM202210 UCAU
Organic and Biodynamic
15 Plus Years
Regular price $159.99 / bottle
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The 2022 vintage marks the celebration of what would have been Diana Madeline's 101st birthday.

The final blend comprises 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Malbec.

The wine reward careful cellaring, up to 50 years.

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Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Merlot 2022

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Tasting Notes

The 2022 Diana Madeline is a culmination of over 50 years of dedication effort and respect for the land to make the best quality wine. The vintage was perfect for elegant cabernet sauvignon, with warm conditions early and then cooler conditions making it an epic vintage with reds ripening earlier than usual. Hand harvested over 5 biodynamic calendar days from 12th March to 16th March, three flower days and culminating on a full Moon fruit day when Venus and Saturn were in conjunction.

An average of 30 days on skins. The wine spent 14 months in 55% new oak. In a mixture of biodynamic barriques and puncheons. The final blend comprises 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Malbec.

The Cabernet Sauvignon vines were planted in 1971, Merlot 1976, Cabernet Franc 1976 and Malbec in 1978… beautiful old vine wine.

Critic Scores

Deep bright purple-red colour leading into a stylish bouquet of sweet mulberry and other berry fruits, violets and cassis, succulent and mouth-filling, with masses of fine emery-like tannins that run the length of the palate adding authority, structure, length and refreshment to the aftertaste. Concentrated, superripe blackberry, cassis and mulberry flavours; oak tucked discreetly into the background.

Really delivers as you might expect from this excellent concentrated and powerfully frame vintage in Margaret River. It’s dominant cabernet with smaller portions of merlot, cabernet franc and malbec. Typical of this wine since switching to biodynamics, it is bright and brilliant with a nervy tense energy to drive the palate. The succulent fruit is harness by fine chalky tannins and neatly played oak of which 55% was new. A wine of extraordinary elegance and poise with a few of many decades.

Needless to say, Margaret River enjoyed another superb vintage with the 2022 season. Slightly cooler, Cullen report that it was a vintage of “immense perfume and texture”. This wine will be released early February to coincide with Diana’s 101st birthday. The wine is a wonderfully vibrant purple in colour. The nose gives up plums, cassis, spices including nutmeg, chocolate, mocha, bay leaves, cigar box notes – think a freshly opened box of Cohiba Siglo VI – and near perfect oak integration. This is finely balanced and exhibiting immense length on a palate that sees the emergence of aniseed, mulberries and coffee beans. An alluringly supple texture with the silkiest of tannins, though plenty of them – there really is some grip here. This will easily sail through fifteen to twenty years in a good cellar.

Vinification & Cultivation

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Vineyard Cultivation

The 2022 Diana Madeline release again sources fruit from Cullen's estate vineyards in Margaret River, drawing from mature Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot parcels on the region's characteristic gravelly soils enhanced by marine aerosol and cool afternoon winds. The vineyard is managed using biodynamic certification principles, which emphasize soil health, biodiversity and natural cycles over chemical inputs. The 2022 vintage was warm and generally dry in Margaret River, requiring careful management of vine water-stress to maintain acidity and tannin precision. Canopy management and selective harvesting ensured that only fully ripe, optimal-phenotype fruit entered the winery. The combination of site geology, biodynamic practice and vintage conditions produced small, intensely flavoured berries.

Vinification

Destemmed berries ferment in temperature-controlled concrete vessels using a combination of ambient and cultured yeasts over 14–21 days, with regular monitoring to manage extraction. Malolactic fermentation occurs in barrel following the initial fermentation phase, integrating the primary and secondary flavour evolution. Eighteen months of French oak aging—a mix of new and older barrels—follows, allowing the Cabernet and Merlot to marry seamlessly whilst oak characters remain subtle. The philosophy prioritizes balance between fruit aromatics and structural tannins. No mechanical fining is employed; the wine is racked, settled naturally and bottled without filtration.

About this Wine

Cullen

In the Australian wine industry, few names are so revered as Cullen out of Western Australia's Margaret River. From its inception in 1966 by Dr. Kevin and Diana Cullen, this winery has seen only premium viticulture and winemaking practices in order to produce equally exceptional wines. First planted in 1971, the site now totals over 18 acres of vineyards planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Semillon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. In 1989 Diana Cullen handed the winemaking reins over to her daughter Vanya, who continues to hold that position in addition to Managing Director.

With the goal to express the vineyard character through its wines, Vanya converted to biodynamic viticulture and uses a minimal intervention approach; the vines are dry-grown and low yielding in order to produce intensely flavored grapes. All pruning and harvesting is done by hand and fermentation occurs using natural yeasts. In addition to it being biodynamic, Cullen is also a Carbon Neutral and a naturally powered estate, respecting the environment to sustaining the land for many years to come.

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