TN: Cullen Diana Madeleine 1994-2009 Vertical 5/9/11

[n4sir]

A couple of weeks ago I went to a vertical of Cullen's iconic Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blend, known as Diana Madeleine since the 2001 vintage. While there were some notable disappointments with a couple of the earlier vintages bottled under cork, overall it was a fairly consistent tasting where the bigger, tarry vintages stood out. What was also noticeable was the better wines seemed to put on weight at about the ten-year mark, so the bold tannins of youth seemed less obvious. The last flight of three vintages were very young (so much that any spill stained the paper with indigo coloured droplets), the latest couple just 12.5% alcohol. Most of the wines were obtained direct from the cellar door on release and served in flights of three or two; it wasn't a blind tasting this time, and all bottles were double decanted.


FLIGHT 1:

1994 Cullen Reserve Cabernet Merlot (cork): Medium to very dark blood red. Inky and fresh, raspberries and sweet oak at first, dusty with menthol and dried oregano, then attractive ashtray and cigar box characters; the palate's just as impressive, a tannic entry leading to a tangy mid-palate, finishing gravelly and very long with a lick of fresh vanillin oak on the very end. This bottle of the final vintage of the Reserve label was in very fine form, nothing bettered it on my scoresheet tonight.

1995 Cullen Cabernet Merlot (cork): Medium garnet/brick. This was very advanced, stocky and volatile with dominant VA and liquorice, the fading remnants of jammy fruit underneath; the palate's a little better with more tangy fruit and a hint of liquorice and caramel, but is still disappointing. Given its lofty reputation this was quite probably a poor bottle.

1996 Cullen Cabernet Merlot (cork): The first bottle was slightly corked and replaced. Medium to dark red/garnet. Inky and herbal, with red berries and toasty/charred coffee/caramel oak that sticks out in comparison to the 94 Reserve; a peppery/spicy entry leads to a palate that's powerful but not fleshy, finishing with obvious vanillin/malty oak and awkward tannins. This was much better than another bottle four years ago, yet I still can't see it being a great vintage.


FLIGHT 2:

1997 Cullen Cabernet Merlot (cork): Medium to dark brick red. The bouquet was even worse than the 1995, heavily oxidised and volatile, full of vegemite characters, maybe a little tomato leaf in the distance; there's some remnants of black liquorice and the earthy/soupy structure, but overall the fruit's gone leaving a nasty, slightly mousy finish. A bottle last year from impeccable cellar conditions was even worse - either there's seriously horrible batch/bottle variation, or this vintage isn't anywhere near as good as some initially thought.

1998 Cullen Cabernet Merlot (cork): Badly corked & removed from the tasting.

1999 Cullen Cabernet Merlot (cork): Medium to almost dark crimson. Lifted and green at first, peppermint/ozone and a whiff of VA and vanillin oak, some cinnamon with breathing; the palate's very spicy, minty and gravelly, medium to full weight with chewy tannins slightly sticking out on the finish. Seems a little disjointed at the moment, somewhere between the 1996 & 1994 Reserve - I'm not sure if it will reach the heights of the latter.

2000 Cullen Cabernet Merlot (cork): Light to medium red. The bouquet is rather unusual, sweet and medicinal, slightly smoky cherry characters with lifted vanillin oak/cinnamon on the bouquet; a tangy, sweet entry leads to a notably lighter-weight, minty/spicy palate, with a thin, very dry finish. This is a quick developer that I doubt has much of a future from here.


FLIGHT 3:

2001 Cullen Diana Madeleine (cork): Dark to inky red/purple. Super powerful and concentrated, inky and tarry with blackcurrants and violets, peppermint and cedar oak; the palate matches up to the promise of the nose, huge, powerful and earthy with an extremely long, minty finish, gum-sapping tannins and acidity. The undisputed blockbuster lived up to its reputation; this should cellar for decades.

2002 Cullen Diana Madeleine (screwcap): Medium to dark crimson. Pretty, fruity and perfumed, cassis and blueberry, touches of peppermint, black olive and dried herbs; in contrast to the 2001 vintage the palate is medium-weight and mineraly, blueberry/blackcurrants with gravelly tannins and great length. An earlier drinking vintage but still a beautiful wine, a fascinating counter to the bombastic 2001.


FLIGHT 4:

2004 Cullen Diana Madeleine (screwcap): Dark to inky red/purple. The bouquet opens with more obvious oak, with tarry blueberry/blackcurrants and peppermint, and slightly vegetal characters with breathing; the palate's sweeter and bigger than the 2005 vintage right now, blueberries/black cherries leading to a mineraly mid-palate and a powerful, fruity finish that absorbs the considerable tannins. At the moment this vintage was the closest in weight to that blockbuster 2001, the iron fist in the velvet glove.

2005 Cullen Diana Madeleine (screwcap): Medium to very dark red/purple. Lifted and toasty/vanillin oak is followed by tarry blueberries and mint, some menthol and strong vegetal notes appearing with breathing; the palate's medium to full weight, spicy, gravelly and tarry mid-palate, finishing with sweet fruit and malty oak. The 2001 vintage was in a bit of a flat spot four years ago, and I expect this to likewise come together and put on some additional weight around 2015 or so; there are definitely similarities between the two.


FLIGHT 5:

2007 Cullen Diana Madeleine (screwcap): Medium to dark red. Very young, peppermint, scrubbed blueberries and dark cherries on the nose; obvious malty oak on entry leads to a surprisingly medium-weight, gravelly mid-palate with peppermint and fresh/wild herbs, finishing very long, earthy and smoky with a hint of oyster. There are promising similarities to the 2001 & 2005 vintages, but I'd like a little more weight; maybe it will come in time.

2008 Cullen Diana Madeleine (screwcap): Medium to almost dark red/purple. Very fruity and ripe nose with a hint of raisined fruit, but mainly jubey and sweet, like cherry cordial at times; the palate's about medium-weight, and like the nose bright, jubey and a little simple, with increasingly grippy tannins dominating the peppery finish.

2009 Cullen Diana Madeleine (screwcap): Medium red/purple. Black cherries and malted milk, then blueberries and jubes, black olive and mulberry with breathing; the palate's very grippy with more jubes and blueberry, the gravelly mid-palate leading to a long finish with fine tannins and a whisper of biscuity oak off in the distance.


Cheers
Ian

[Gianna]

Ian

Really good notes and what a great line up of Cullens.

I've cellared Cullen for many years and have been patient with them, but overall, a tad dissapointed with the development that they have shown. I've expected better given the stellar reviews they get. Maybe I'm missing something, but I had a 01 Moss Wood recently and it blew away any Cullen that I can recall.

Had the 2000 last night watching the brownlow and it was very similar to your tasting note, perhaps a little more char and leather undertones, but I reckon it has at least 5 years to go.

I recently tried the 1998 and it was finally beginning to show its stuff, this was a good wine.

I suppose your comment about them hitting their straps after 10 years makes sense, so a little more patience from my part.

Regards

Gianna

[GraemeG]

Never had a 95 that lived up to the rap either.
Waiting to be really blown away by Cullen, although I do recall a very good 90 Reserve that PLCB brought to an offline about 10 years ago.
Only have 99 & 01 in the cellar; was very impressed by one of the 99s 2-3 years ago, but it needed more way time. I hope.
cheers,
GG

[fred]

Ian,

Interesting that you should put htis up as opened both 1996 and 1997 over the last weekend.

I had both open for 4 hours and THEN poured into wine jugs about 1.5 hours prior to serving.

I agree the 1996 has fabulous potential - but not quite there.

By contrast the 1997 is closer to its peak on this sample and I had no problem with it albeit it had been outclassed by themore feminine 1986 Jacaranda Ridge 1986 which was sensational on the night (opened 6 hours before serving and only poured into wine jug to serve). My 1997 had good depth of fruit and had it not been for having had the 1996 the previous night I would have been very happy with it!!

My general experience with these wines goes all the way back to the early days when they were "cabernet sauvignon" and the rule of thumb is that at under 15 years from vintage you will not see the best of them.

regareds,

fred

[daz]

I note there was no 2006 vintage of the line represented in the tasting. It's probably the vintage considered to be one of MR's worst and unfortunately, it was these current release when was encouraged by other forumites to declare a corked, tca infected, bottle the 2001 DM. Vanya admitted to cork problens and also replaced a 2002 Mangan with also the current release at the time, a 2007 which has received some positive.

[n4sir]

I note there was no 2006 vintage of the line represented in the tasting. It's probably the vintage considered to be one of MR's worst and unfortunately, it was these current release when was encouraged by other forumites to declare a corked, tca infected, bottle the 2001 DM. Vanya admitted to cork problens and also replaced a 2002 Mangan with also the current release at the time, a 2007 which has received some positive.

The 2003 and 2006 were originally slated to be in this tasting, but they were left out for some reason I'm not entirely sure of (probably because they were thought to be lesser vintages, and were dropped when we sourced a 2009 at the last moment). Personally I still would have liked to have had them in there, especially after we struck dud bottles of the 1995 & 1997 vintages.

Cheers,
Ian

[PaulV]

Had one of my 1995s on Saturday. Been cellared at 15 degrees since original purchase and the corkl was in excellent condition. However, the wine had quite a deal of VA, seemed overdeveloped and really lacked complexity. maybe too hot and dry year and the vines were stressed. Anyway quite a disappointment.

cheers

paul

[Mike Hawkins]

Ian

I've cellared Cullen for many years and have been patient with them, but overall, a tad dissapointed with the development that they have shown. I've expected better given the stellar reviews they get. Maybe I'm missing something,Gianna

I have to agree. I'm yet to have one that wowed me, and have had many vintages at varying ages. A recent bottle of the 2003 with another forumite was ordinary...

Mike

[Waiters Friend]

I note there was no 2006 vintage of the line represented in the tasting. It's probably the vintage considered to be one of MR's worst and unfortunately, it was these current release when was encouraged by other forumites to declare a corked, tca infected, bottle the 2001 DM. Vanya admitted to cork problens and also replaced a 2002 Mangan with also the current release at the time, a 2007 which has received some positive.

The 2003 and 2006 were originally slated to be in this tasting, but they were left out for some reason I'm not entirely sure of (probably because they were thought to be lesser vintages, and were dropped when we sourced a 2009 at the last moment). Personally I still would have liked to have had them in there, especially after we struck dud bottles of the 1995 & 1997 vintages.

Cheers,
Ian

You will be glad you left them out of your tasting. 2003 was a crook year for MR reds anyway, and Cullen also copped a really bad batch of corks that year (their chardonnay was similarly affected). 2006 was screwcap (although you may have had the option to buy cork, I'm not sure) but also the coolest year on record in MR, so, like some Bordeaux, the grapes just didn't get there in terms of ripeness. Ironically, the back label of the wine still suggests 20 years' cellaring - I won't be letting mine go past 10.

Cheers

Allan