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Cullen Wines

2024

Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot

Margaret River - Australia
Shelf Talker Spec Sheet Wine Label Bottle Image

About

Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot is a blend as old as time, but it’s one that has taken on a new shape in Margaret River, taking on a coastal minerality and nuance. This one comes entirely from the certified biodynamic, certified organic, and dry-farmed vineyards at the Cullen estate in Wilyabrup. The 2024 vintage was the hottest, driest and earliest harvest on record. Rainfall turned off like a tap at the end of September 2023, with nominally no rain until the season broke in May 2024. Unseasonable warmth all through the growing season combined with heatwaves in January meant harvest started early and was over extremely quickly. These vintage conditions mean this is a wine of power and depth.

The fruit was harvested on the 12th, 15th and 21st of February over two flower days and one fruit day. The fruit was de-stemmed and sent to stainless steel for spontaneous fermentation. After 5-11 days, the skins were pressed off the wine and it was then sent to barriques (23% new) for eight months of maturation. It was blended in tank and bottled with a light fining, filtering, and dosage of sulfur.

Stats

  • Grapes: 85% Cabernet Sauvignon - 15% Merlot
  • Vineyard: Cullen Wines (Wilyabrup)
  • Vine Age: Average: 30-years-old
  • Soil Type: Sandy/gravelly loam duplex
  • Viticulture: Certified biodynamic - certified organic - dry-farmed
  • Fermentation: Native — stainless-steel
  • Skin Contact: 5-11 days
  • Aging: 8 months in oak barriques (23% new)
  • Alcohol: 13%
  • pH: 3.6
  • Total Acidity: 5.9 g/L
  • Total SO2: 83 ppm
  • Total Production: 3,000 cases
  • SRP: $49.99

Tasting Notes

Ripe mulberry and ironstone lead into cigar box, floral spice, and hints of sage and violet. The palate shifts from perfumed red fruit to blackcurrant and dark chocolate, shaped by fine tannins with touches of cedar and sandalwood. Long, confident, and built to age.

Press & Reviews

Wine Advocate

94

"The 2024 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot is brambly and fine, with blackcurrant and dark chocolate, forest floor, cardamom and tobacco. With nuances of vanilla pod and a dusting of black pepper, nori and hung deli meat, the wine appears to have it all, draped in a sheath of pliable tannin. The blend is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon with the balance being Merlot, and it matured for eight months in French oak, 20% new. It's quite an astounding wine, remarkable given the challenging season that birthed it, but it's a triumph for the very same reason. Vineyard will prevail over all, it seems."

- Erin Larkin

Producer


Cullen Wines

Region


Margaret River

Country


Australia

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