2017 Diana Madeline Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2017 Diana Madeline hails from a cool, wet season—the coolest and wettest since 2006. Aromatically, this wine leads with cassis and aniseed, nori and raspberry pip. On the palate, some meaty nuances emerge, and the wine has a very fine tannin structure that cascades through the finish. It's a lighter wine in this year. The blend is 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot and 3% Malbec. 12.9% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Deep, bright-hued purple. Expansive aromas of dark berry preserves, cherry pit, incense, black pepper, candied rose and spicecake, along with hints of pipe tobacco and vanilla that emerge as the wine opens up. Seamless and broad on the palate, offering wonderfully concentrated yet lively smoke-tinged black and blue fruit, floral pastille and spicecake flavors lifted by a bright mineral flourish. Shows outstanding energy and sharp delineation on the strikingly long, floral- and mineral-accented finish, which is given shape by dusty, fine-grained tannins. There's 40% new French oak here and it plays in superb harmony with the wine's pure, expressive fruit.
81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot, 3% Malbec. Aged for 18 months in oak (40% new). Beautifully syrupy fruit with dark chocolate, black cherry, a touch of smoke and black olive giving complexity. Dry, fibrous palate with tannins that are accessible but really deserve age. Chewy. All primary now, a keen puppy that needs some years in bottle. (RH)
Long, cool harvest and James Halliday’s top Cabernet of the year. Aged for 18 months in barriques (40% new). Lustrous crimson. Really savoury, lighter than the 2012; very cool and fresh and sinewy. Still pretty dry and youthful on the end. Wait. (JR)