Cullen Diana Madeline 2017

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

“At the very top of the quality and ethical tree you might drink wine from the biodynamically certified vineyards of Cullen from Margaret River” – Tim White

From the Winery:

The length of the 2017 vintage gave the grapes time to develop aromatics and flavours not found in the shorter, warmer seasons.

Diana Madeline Cullen always liked the cooler seasons for Cabernet Sauvignon, especially the 1982. The cooler vintages make wines of great elegance and longevity.

The 1982 Cabernet Merlot (as it was known then) last day of harvest was the 22nd of April, versus the 12th of April for the 2017 vintage.
A great tribute to the biodynamic farming, shining even in the unusual vintages.

Winemaking

The Cullen winemaking approach is that we will do whatever it takes to make outstanding wines.

Quality is paramount and every winemaking step incorporates this philosophy. The wines can only be as good as the grapes. The uniqueness of Cullen Wines comes in part from the vineyard. The role of the winemaker is to act as caretaker to the fruit – to understand and to realise the full potential of the vineyard and the fruit which comes into the winery.

As Diana and Kevin Cullen had such great foresight to plant on one of the great winegrowing sites in Margaret River, the winemakers job, working with such high quality fruit, has been made pleasurable.

There is, however, still a lot of experimentation and hard work which takes place in the winery at all times.At all steps of the process the wine (or wine to be) is treated gently and with great care.

The process of making the wine involves handling the fruit as little and as gently as possible. Practices such as hand harvesting, very little fruit transport, sorting of the fruit before crushing, minimal wine movement, minimal fining for the Whites, no fining for the Reds, and minimal filtration are used. This helps to ensure that the wine in the bottle is a true expression of the fruit that it is made from.

Cullen Wines are experimenting with natural winemaking.

Biodynamics in the winery

To take this even further Cullen Wines are harvesting as much as possible using Maria Thun theory Basics. She suggests that the moon in a constellation has a favourable influence on the elemental relationship of fire which makes it better for harvest giving greater intensity and preservation of fruit flavour.

The wines are mostly making themselves with little or no intervention. This means indigenous yeast, no additions of any kind, minimal oak use and fining.

We would like to think that in both the vineyard and winery we are working with nature rather than trying to control it. This gives us the lands best and purest potential of expression being put into the bottle.

Where in the World is Cullen?

Margaret River south of Perth in Western Australia is a stunning part of the world. I had the great pleasure of working and playing there for a year back in the days when you could pick up a JL Chave Blanc for $60 at the Prevelly Park store!

Western Australian viticulturist John Gladstone identified the region as a promise place to grow Cabernet varieties, matching it’s climate to that of Bordeaux. Seems he was right!