Wine Advocate (93)

Crystallum's biggest Pinot Noir release is this 35,794-bottle production, with fruit sourced from across the Western Cape. The 2023 Peter Max Pinot Noir stands out for the same high quality found in the rest of this excellent portfolio. This is a spot-on wine made by Andrew and Peter-Allan Finlayson. With a total of 125 barrels created, it ages in mostly third- and fourth-year 228-liter barrels for 11 months. Wild cherry and violet cede to blood orange and spice.

Vinous (95)

Opaque ruby. Smoke- and spice-accented dark berries, cherry preserves, bacon and licorice on the expansive nose. Offers lush and appealingly sweet black raspberry, blueberry, cola and allspice flavors that show excellent depth and pick up a subtle floral accent with aeration. Displays excellent clarity and mineral thrust on the wonderfully persistent finish, which features an intense blue fruit character and gently firming tannins.

Vinous (91)

(includes 10% viognier): Saturated ruby. Sexy aromas of oak-spiced red and dark berry preserves and anise, with a smoky topnote. Bright and precise on entry, then fuller in the middle, offering intense black raspberry and cherry-vanilla flavors and a touch of cracked pepper. Shows very good intensity on the finish, where the peppery note repeats.

Vinous (94)

Dark ruby. Fresh black and blue fruits, candied flowers and exotic spices on the intensely perfumed nose, lifted by a smoky mineral overtone. Smooth, sweet and seamless in the mouth, offering powerful blueberry, cherry liqueur, violet and spicecake flavors that tighten up steadily with air. Powerful yet lively, delivering superb finishing thrust and well-knit tannins that shape the long, blue-fruit-dominated finish.

Vinous (93-94)

Glass-staining ruby. Displays pungent, spice-accented aromas of ripe dark berries, candied violet, musky herbs and minerals that pick up a smoky nuance with air. Juicy and energetic on the palate, offering pliant black/blue fruit, spicecake and floral pastille flavors that show excellent clarity and back-end thrust. Becomes deeper with air, with no loss of energy, and finishes mineral and very long, with smooth tannins and repeating floral and herb notes.

Vinous (96)

Dark, shimmering magenta. Displays highly perfumed black and blue fruit aromas, along with hints of vanilla, potpourri, olive and smoky minerals. Densely packed cherry, blueberry and fruitcake flavors stretch out steadily with air while taking on a suggestion of exotic spices. The mineral note repeats firmly on the vibrant and impressively long finish, which is shaped by youthfully gripping tannins.

Vinous (93)

Lurid ruby. Pungent, mineral-laced black and blue fruit preserve, olive and incense scents on the deeply perfumed nose. Shows serious depth as well as surprising vivacity, offering sweet boysenberry and cherry compote flavors that become spicier with air. Supple and broad, delivering a very long, sweet finish that shows excellent clarity, harmonious tannins and lingering floral and spicecake nuances.

Vinous (94)

Opaque magenta. Spice-accented aromas of dark fruit liqueur, licorice and candied violet, with a smoky bacon element building as the wine opens up. Sweet and seamless on the palate, offering juicy blueberry, kirsch and spicecake flavors and a subtle touch of exotic spices. Round, harmonious tannins shape a long, penetrating finish that leaves behind a sappy blue fruit note. 50% new oak.

Vinous (93)

Dark purple. Dark berry preserves, cola, licorice and olive on the pungent, highly perfumed nose. Offers lush boysenberry and cassis flavors that becomes spicier with air and show a sexy floral quality on the back end. Supple tannins add shape to the finish, which clings with superb tenacity and alluring sweetness. This big boy is built to age.

Vinous (93)

(50% new oak): Inky ruby. Sexy, inviting aromas of cherry compote, blackcurrant, incense and smoky Indian spices, with a peppery nuance in the background. Smooth, sweet and open-knit, offering sappy dark fruit and spicecake flavors complemented by notes of cola and violet pastille. Sweet and youthfully tannic on the clinging finish, with repeating smoke and floral qualities. Shows a very civilized character for this bottling, which is often a tough read in its early days.

Vinous (94)

Inky ruby. Black and blue fruits, olive, peony, incense and smoky mineral qualities on the deeply perfumed nose. Palate-staining blueberry, cherry liqueur, fruitcake and floral pastille flavors become more energetic with air and take on licorice and exotic spice notes on the back half. Rich but lively as well, finishing with emphatic back-end cut on a strikingly long finish that features fine-grained tannins and lingering floral and spice notes. This is an extremely impressive example of Saint-Joseph from the northern sector of the appellation, and while it should deliver plenty of upfront appeal, it's also balanced to age gracefully.

Halliday Wine Companion (98)

A bright crimson 73/20/7% blend of cabernet, merlot and franc, aged for an average of 17 months in French barriques (60% new). This was Cullen's greatest wine until the arrival of the Vanya Cabernet, and remains one of Australia's greatest cabernet blends, the only real competition coming from other Margaret River blends. The bouquet is perfumed, the palate fluid and graceful, notwithstanding the intensity of its cassis et al fruits which give the wine its awesome length, fine tannins its balance.

Halliday Wine Companion (98)

A cabernet-dominated (93%) blend, matured for 14 months in French barriques (67% new). Fluid grace, elegance personified, no compromise. Extraordinary attention to detail. From the Wilyabrup district, the heart of Margaret River cabernet blends.

Halliday Wine Companion (98)

81% cabernet sauvignon, 10% merlot, 6% cabernet franc, 3% malbec. Wild-fermented and matured for 18 months in French oak (40% new). The colour is faultless, as is the wine. It has waves of complexity, like one of Margaret River's surf breaks, changing shape as the luxuriant cassis swells on the mid-palate, then finishes with ripe, textured tannins as the wave goes on to crash on the shore. The overall ripeness is perfection.

James Suckling (99)

This is a superb edition of this revered, cabernet-based blend with such complete, seamless and elegant feel, yet there’s such depth of flavor, too. Aromas of fresh redcurrants, red and violet flowers, subtle spice, fresh earth, paper bark, fresh-picked thyme and sage, red berries and some cedary notes. The palate is stunning and has a brand of elegance with power that is found in only the greatest wines. Pristine mulberries, red plums, blueberries and red cherries sail through layers of fine tannin, into an unwaveringly long and vibrant finish. An exceptionally concentrated and convincing Diana Madeline release, this is one of their finest. A blend of 79% cabernet sauvignon, 10% merlot, 6% cabernet franc and 5% malbec. Delicious now, but his will bloom from 2028. Screw cap.

Halliday Wine Companion (98)

87% Cabernet sauvignon, with 7/3/2/1% merlot/cabernet franc/malbec/petit verdot. Matured for 15 months in barrique, 45% new. Cassis and red licorice on the nose, bay and salt bush, too. The palate is salty and fine with layers upon layers of spice and texture. The tannins are like finely textured gills, stacked as delicately as the folds in a mushroom. The length of flavour unfurls and extends across the palate, taking so long to fade that this entire tasting note is possible off one sip. The rest are just for pleasure. Drink it now, or in 40+ years from now… both will be possible.

Wine Advocate (95+)

The 2020 Diana Madeline hails from a vintage that perhaps we underestimate its significance, purely by virtue of the fact that we may be too close to it currently. Similar to the World War years, any wine made in 2020 was done so under trying conditions heretofore not experienced by the global community. Widespread lockdowns, the threat of a then-unknown virus weighing down upon us all, uncertainty rife and mobility greatly restricted, the wines of the 2020 vintage are a triumph in themselves. In Margaret River, the season was warm, dry and early, and it has yielded a tranche of structurally powerful wines, as this is. The tannins here feel firm, and they serve to encase the fruit rather than exist within it, as other Diana Madelines exhibit. It is perhaps a wine that needs more time, and it is certainly a historical vintage to collect—if not for us now, then for our children later. 13.1% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. Cullen Wines supplied the following technical details: The 2020 harvest dates included two moon-opposite-Saturn events and two full moons—one being a fruit day perigee and the other a moon-opposite-Saturn flower day—and took place from February 8 until March 10. The blend is 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 1% Malbec. Closed tanks, open fermenters, barrels and amphora were all used in the fermentation process, and the period of skin contact lasted from 10 to 99 days, depending on the batch of wine. This wine spent 13 months in 50% new oak in a mixture of barriques and puncheons, with some biodynamic oak featuring. No additions of yeast, acid or malolactic acid were made to this wine.