2000 Cullen (Diana Madeline) Cabernet Merlot Magnum

97 points - Jeremy Oliver
Pristine perfume of violets, dark berries and plums, lightly minty, dusty and smoky, over strongly scented vanilla/bubblegum/mocha oak. Classically long and silky, with a sumptuous depth of plush, pristine black berry/dark cherry fruit tightly integrated with supple, drying tannins and smoky fine-grained oak. Superb balance, length and harmony.

★★★★★ Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine
This wine was voted the Best Cabernet Sauvignon Blend in Australia in the August 2002 issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine. Nick Bulleid, who was part of a very distinguished panel, writes:  "The quality of Cullen's cabernet sauvignon merlot is simply stunning. This is classic Margaret River. Both the 2000 and 1999 wines showed a deep purple-red colour and wonderful fruit concentration. The 2000 is marginally the finer of the two in structure, with a plump, supple and intense palate and plenty of fine tannin. I thought the fruit showed perfect ripeness, with concentrated blackcurrant characters. Peter Bourne said 'rich, ripe and opulent, with power and length', while Peter Forrestal admired its 'velvet texture'. These are brilliant wines with almost unlimited potential for development.

95 Points & Top 100 Wines of 2002 - James Halliday, The Weekend Australian
One of Australia's true benchmark wines, broodingly powerful in its youth but slowly unfolding with age. Deeply coloured. The small red berry fruits and subtle oak of the bouquet give little hint of the lush red and black fruits of the palate, the powerful tannins showing the first signs of softening. Great bloodlines.

95 points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review 
The last of this label before it became Diana Madeline. Black olives, meat-stock, ironstone, a hint of crushed ants (in a nice way); the bouquet is complex and the wine is powerful and deep, elegant and tightly focused, lively and long. It stood up well beside several 2000 Bordeaux left-bank wines. It may not have had the amazing extract of the best of the Medocs, but was a superb wine in its own right.