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 

I remember when she started preaching the biodynamic gospel and the grand old men of Australian wine were decidedly sceptical, but this time she had just been made winemaker of the year by the influential James Halliday machine in Australia and was on her way back from receiving in New York the honour of winemaker of the year in the Australian Women of Wine awards.  JANCIS ROBINSON

One of the pioneers of Margaret River, and has always produced long-lived wines of highly individual style from the mature estate vineyards….Winemaking is in the hands of Vanya Cullen, daughter of the founders; she is possessed of an extraordinarily good palate and generosity to the cause of fine wine. JAMES HALLIDAY 

One of greatest Cabernet wines in the country, produced by one of our most talented winemakers AND from a standout vintage. It's a proposition that sells itself...and yet here I am gilding the lily once again, but it's such a brilliant wine to wax lyrical about so forgive me.

Drinking a glass of Cullen's Diana Madeline is always a masterclass in power, polish and poise. Margaret River is not known for the latter two as a rule but here it's a highlight that can be traced back over decades. It's a wine of incredible pedigree, remarkable consistency and shows a clearly defined sense of place and power delivered through a lens of restraint and finesse. In every comparative cabernet tasting I have been involved with this wine continually stands out. This is one of Australia's greatest wines...period.  

The nose is always deep, yet restrained, no pyrazine here, instead it's an amalgam of cassis fruit, pencil shavings and little flecks of savoury highlights like its trademark bay leaf that subtle shift in and out with the vintage. It's always a wine of supreme length and intensity but always feels more restrained and tightly coiled than its counterparts. The highlight though is often the wonderful web of fine, dense tannin which beautiful frames all that succulent fruit. It's a masterpiece in modern Australian wine celebrating purity of fruit and terroir with restraint and poise. 

The 2022 vintage started with a wet winter which primed the vineyards for the months ahead. The summer was dry and warm and Autumn delivered wonderfully clear days and cool nights rolling through to harvest. The old vine cabernet at Cullen lapped up the conditions that Vanya describes as  "...perfect for elegant cabernet sauvignon.". What this wine always does so well is in vintages like this it delivers plenty of power and intensity as you might expect, but there's wonderful tension, drive and shape to the wine too. I mentioned it above but Cabernet for me must have great tannin structure to be great and few do it as well as Vanya, you can see in all the reviews below how that wall of fine, supple tannin frames that fruit to perfection. This looks to be a particular excellent incantation of Diana Madeline if the effusive praise and near perfect scores are anything to go by. 

The 2022 Diana Madeline is for me an undeniable must have for those who want a cellar filled with Australia’s greatest wines. Give it 10-20 years and the wine fans out into something almost ethereal in nature. The tannins sink into the fruit, the savoury nuance pushes its way to the top and delivers the fireworks that make aged cabernet one of the world’s great wine experiences. No one regrets having these to pull out of the cellar over a dinner, they will always impress and even more so in a vintage like 2022.