This wine was made entirely from grapes produced on the Cullen family vineyards and is the second label to the Diane Madeline in the Cullen Wines range.

Although this Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot has been dubbed Diana Madeline’s little sister, the contributions of the various varieties differ and thus provide this wine with its own distinctive character. This wine was made from a blend of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 3% Cabernet Franc and benefited from 12 months maturation in good quality French oak.

Excellent medium red. Strong and rich black berry characters, with a touch of pepper and violets. Great depth of flavour, with the delicious Merlot filling out the middle palate and thus complimenting the clean and classical Cabernet component of the wine. The wine is tied together perfectly by the soft tannins and given structure by the good oak. Cellaring: Up to 10 years

Interesting to see the low alcohol levels in these new Cullen releases. The winery puts it down to Bio-Dynamic practice seeing the grapes getting ripe at lower sugar levels. My wife, who’s the queen of green and very fussy (and just ask Mattinson quite how particular and demanding a wine writer’s partner can be), thought this wine was very attractive and opined (after a push) that Vanya Cullen was onto something with these lighter styles.