Vanya Cullen’s brilliant new Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blend from the 1998 vintage is the OnWine Wine of the Year for 2000. There’s no doubt in my mind that this wonderful new Cullen wine sets a clear course that more Australian winemakers might be wise to follow. Too many contemporary Australian reds are excessively ripe, over-oaked and over-extracted and it’s a delight to see that one of our best winemakers has chosen the opposite tack. The 1998 Cullen Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot clearly shows that you don’t have to sacrifice flavour or intensity by making a more elegant and supple wine. Few winemakers understand tannin and oak as well as Vanya Cullen and she’s clearly in perfect tune with her family’s mature vineyard and what it’s able to do. I rate this wine marginally ahead of the exceptional but unusually robust 1995 vintage for Cullen. This recognition for Vanya Cullen follows her recent success in being named as the Qantas & The Wine Magazine Winemaker of the Year. Since 1989 she has been winemaker for the family-owned and operated Cullen winery in the Margaret River region of WA. Cullen also produces one of Australia’s leading Chardonnays, an excellent Sauvignon Blanc Semillon and a lively, flavoursome Pinot Noir. The other five finalists for the OnWine Wine of the Year are: Ashton Hills Reserve Pinot Noir 1997, Delatite VS Riesling 1999, Penfolds Eden Valley Reserve Riesling 1999, Petaluma Coonawarra 1992 (a cabernet merlot blend) and Tim Adams’ The Aberfeldy 1998 (100% shiraz). These wines were chosen as finalists for the ‘OnWine Wine of the Year’ and as ‘Wines of the Issue’ in Jeremy Oliver’s OnWine Report because each make a strong contribution to the quality and style of Australian wine. All six wines represent an improvement and refinement in their breed and each illustrates that there’s a great deal more to Australian wine than mere fruit and oak. The 1998 Cullen Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot follows in the footsteps of the inaugural OnWine Wine of the Year, Rosemount Estate’s 1996 Mountain Blue Shiraz Cabernet from Mudgee. The six finalists are all featured in the 2001 edition of The OnWine Australian Wine Annual, now available in leading bookstores, wine retail outlets and wineries for a GST-inclusive retail price of $24.95.
