2007 Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Merlot, Margaret River
The is a vintage blended of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot. Alcohol is 13.8%(the label reads 14%). On first sip, he wine is dense and knitted and at the same time the wine is poised, fresh, elegant, controlled, filled with power and giving a strong sense of place. It tastes very young. Not from a ten year old wine. We found no astringency and greenness from the cab. On the tasting side, Lisa Perroti-brown on 2007 Cullen Diane Madelaine Cabernet Merlot covers well, ‘a very deep garnet-purple color, complex, moderately intense aromas of warm blackberry, black olive, hung meat, tree bark and underbrush plus supporting notes of dark chocolate and Sichuan pepper. The 2007 is the more structured vintage possessing a great backbone of high acidity and medium to firm fine tannins with a bit of chew in the long finish.’
This is a humbling, tasting experience. We have with no good explanation for the good taste; we have no choice but to attribute this presence to the bio-dynamic practice, the Scott-Henry trellising, the manure concentration, carbon neutral treatment, the wind, the harvesting by hand on a full moon fruit day, basket press, the blending, the 14 month French (50% new) barriques, and of course, Vanya Cullen the maker’s experience learnt from DRC and Leflaive,…… all these form what we call a unique total which is bigger than the sum of the parts.
Classified Exceptional in Langton’s, this Diana Madeline Cabernet 2007 probably makes the silly prices charged by Bordeaux even more ridiculous. This is a JH97.
We are all indebted to Chris Robinson’s vertical tasting on Cullen Cab blends years back in HKWS. We always believe Cullen’s Cab blends can only be matched by Moss Wood and Mount Mary Quintet.
