CULLEN Diana Madeline Cabernet Merlot 2021

Robert Parker Score: 96 points

Reviewer: Erin Larkin — March 2025 Week 320 Mar 2025

Drink 2025–2051

The 2021 Diana Madeline is a fascinating wine, one that feels as if it is evolving before my very eyes. Particularly the tannins, which at this stage possess a capaciousness—they force the walls of fruit outward in the mouth. It's good. At this stage, the tannins feel grippy like Barolo, substantial in this way, and I find this informs the flavors in an all too Italianate direction. A lovely thing. There are roses, petrichor, dried herbs, asphalt, nori, fennel seeds and iodine. 2021 was not an easy Cabernet vintage in Margaret River, nor was it consistently good across the region, yet this is not just a good effort in the season that was but a remarkable wine in and of itself. Kudos. The blend is 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.