CULLEN Vanya Cabernet Sauvignon 2012

Robert Parker Score: 94 points

Reviewer: Erin Larkin — March 2025 Week 320 Mar 2025

Drink 2025–2032

The 2012 Vanya Cabernet Sauvignon was a significant wine to be released in Margaret River's modern history. Prior to the release of this wine, it and only a handful of others in the region had the highest price point for any wine, Chardonnay or Cabernet, at around $120 AUD/$75 USD. This was disproportionate to the quality on offer, but still the glass ceiling existed. Then came the release of this wine. At $350, the Vanya Cabernet Sauvignon unceremoniously smashed the glass ceiling of price and paved the way for prices to increase significantly across the region. Whether that commerciality is "on the nose" to discuss here, I am not sure, but I view it as an interesting and important part of the significance of this wine. As for the character and quality of the wine, this is another important point. There are aromas of leaf and resin, cocoa, raspberry, licorice, blueberry and graphite, and the wine is fine in structure and texture and long in length. This is a new blueprint for Cabernet, one that tastes as if it couldn't be from anywhere but here. Sealed under screw cap.