Margaret River Vintage Vertical Series 3:
Cullen, Leeuwin, & Cherubino
Decanter claims “Western Australia’s Margaret River is home to some of the world’s finest Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon”… and we agree!
Our third tasting in our Margaret River Mini Series, explores eight wines, from three producers, across seven vintages…at one relaxed tasting! Taste 3 mini verticals and compare how Margaret River Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon have evolved over time.
8 Margaret River wines including…
3 “Australian wine royalty” - Cullen ‘Kevin John’ Chardonnays
2018 | 2013 | 2011
3 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnays
2018 | 2016 | 2008
I’ve gone on record more times than I care to count saying the Leeuwin Art Series is Australia’s greatest chardonnay."
James Halliday
2 Cherubino Frankland River Cabernet Sauvignons
2019 | 2012
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Saturday, January 31st
Margaret River Vintage Vertical Series 3: Cullen, Leeuwin, & Cherubino
Tasting: 2pm - 3.30pm, 8 Wines and Nibbles | $195.00
[Limited to 15 Pax.]
Recent judging visits to Margaret River by leading international wine judges have weighed in and reinforced: that this is a region operating at an elite level. International Wine & Spirits Competition global judge Melania Battiston and Sarah Abbot MW, shared their thoughts on the region.
“We are now ambassadors of this region after this trip. It is our duty to communicate how refined these wines are, to source them, to place them on our lists, and to spread the word of Margaret River.”
- Melania Battiston, International Wine & Spirits Competition Judge“It’s an exciting and important time to be judging wines in Margaret River, and to be visiting the Great Southern. The wines have been brilliant for years, with some iconic and world-famous producers. But we are now seeing growing appreciation and valuing of the unique personality and elite quality of the region.”
- Sarah Abbot MW, International Wine & Spirits Judging Committee Member
Fellow judge Beth Pearce reinforced the point, describing Margaret River as “almost like an insider secret at the moment in the fine wine world,” recognising not just quality, but the region’s growing global relevance.
Margaret River
Extract from 'Huon Hooke’s ‘Introduction to Margaret River’…
“…It’s a toss-up which variety Margaret River does best: cabernet sauvignon or chardonnay. Cabernet wins if you consider there are relatively few places where cabernet excels. By comparison, chardonnay is a great traveller.
Cabernet wines can be quite leafy in cooler seasons and the less-expensive bottlings. These days, cabernet at the higher quality levels is elegant but seldom shows its greener features, which were evident in many of the earliest Margaret River cabernets that turned heads and won trophies with their highly aromatic style. Today’s cabernets are medium to full-bodied, with tannins that are ripe and supple. One rarely finds over-oaked wines. The preferred clone is probably the Houghton clone, a heritage clone originally sourced from the Houghton Swan Valley vineyard.”
The Producers in Context
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Cullen is an iconic Margaret River winery and the Diana Madeline is their flagship red wine. It is famed for its quality and consistency, is sought after by collectors world-wide and is a worthy regional benchmark. It is a classic Cabernet Sauvignon dominant Bordeaux blend grown on an exemplary vineyard. The Cullen vineyard has been certified both Organic and Biodynamic since 2004.
Vanya Cullen received the "Australian Winemaker of the Year" award from Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine in 2000 and was voted "Woman of the Year" by UK based wine magazine The Drinks Business in 2008, becoming the first Australian to receive the award. Vanya was also awarded Halliday Wine Companion's winemaker of the year in 2020.
Cullen became the first vineyard and winery in Australia to be certified carbon positive, starting the process in 2006. Vanya Cullen is also on the board of the "Days of Change" program, which aims to help Western Australian people and businesses live and operate in a more sustainable way.
2021 marked a half-century for the brand and with it a celebration of the Cullen Wines legacy. "This year we celebrate 50 years of Cullen Wines – 50 years of sustainable wine growing preceded by 65,000 years of Wadandi sustainable land care," says Vanya. "Over that time we've been supported by generous people with a wonderful spirit of camaraderie and warmth of spirit, and we are so grateful."
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Family owned, Leeuwin Estate, one of the five founding wineries of the now famous Margaret River district of Western Australia, is under the direction of two generations who work with a team of highly skilled winemakers to consistently produce wines ranking alongside the world’s finest. In 1972, legendary Napa Valley winemaker, Robert Mondavi, identified the future site of the Leeuwin vineyard as being ideal for the production of premium wine and provided early mentorship to Denis and Tricia Horgan in the transformation of their cattle farm into Leeuwin Estate. Enjoying its first commercial vintage in 1979, Leeuwin was thrust into the international spotlight when Decanter Magazine gave its highest recommendation to the 1981 “Art Series” Chardonnay.
The international accolades have continued and Leeuwin now exports to 30 markets. The prestigious Langton’s Classification of Australian wine includes Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay in the top “Exceptional” category and amongst the iconic “Heritage five” celebrating Australia’s most exceptional, ground-breaking wines, whilst Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon is classified as “Outstanding”. Leeuwin Estate has been included in US ‘Wine & Spirits’ Magazine’s Hall of Fame in the category of ‘International Wineries of the Year’ and with point scores as high as 98/100, US ‘Wine Spectator’ has included Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnays amongst the “Top 100 Wines of the Year” on numerous occasions. Leeuwin Estate’s Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon has been a UK ‘Decanter’ Magazine “Top 50 Wine of the Year” and a US ‘Wine & Spirits’ “Top 100 Wine of The Year”, whilst leading Australian wine commentator, James Halliday, includes Leeuwin in his ‘Top 100 Australian Wineries’.
leeuwinestate.com.auLeeuwin Estate is a class act, every facet of its business working with the precision of a Swiss watch. It stands at the very forefront of estate-based, family-owned wineries…
James Halliday40, 35, 25, 15 and 10 years ago, Leeuwin Estate were famous nationally & internationally for their Chardonnay quality. They had produced about 50%, or …
3 of 6, 5 of 10 or 10 of the 20 - of the greatest Australian Chardonnays and white wines - ever. They are now crafting their greatest wines to date in every variety & price range.
John Jens -
-'Top 100 Wineries of Australia for 2024' The Real Review
- Outstanding Wine Producer Trophy' 2023 International Wine and
Spirits Competition
- 'White Wine Producer Trophy' 2023 International Wine and Spirits Competition
- Listed 1 of 10 Best New Wineries in Australia 2009 & 2010 James Halliday Wine Companion
- Winery of the Year 2011 James Halliday Wine Companion
- Best Value Winery 2017 James Halliday Wine Companion
- Named one of the World’s Top 50 Wine Experiences Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine 2018
- Named Australian Best Cellar Door Gourmet Traveller Guide 2022Larry Cherubino, his winery & Wines Awards & Accolades:
- Ray Jordan Producer of the Year WA Wine Review 2023
- 'Most Successful Exhibitor' 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 Wine Show of Western Australia
- Finalist Winemaker of the Year 2003 & 2009 Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine
- International Winemaker of the Year 2003 International Wine and Spirit Competition
- Winemaker of the Year 2003/2004 Guide to Western Australian Wine 2005
- Best Young Australian Winemaker 2004 UK’s Decanter Magazine
- Producer of the Year 2011 Matt Skinner’s Wine Guide
Source: Ray Jordan's Margaret River Region Map
The Wine List
2018 Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay
The 2018 vintage in Margaret River was a freak vintage, which produced wines of the same description. Warm without being hot, rain at all the right times and never the wrong, abundant marri blossoms (which kept the hungry birds at bay) and natural acids that were preserved due to the cooler evenings. It is simple to write off the vintage as being warm, which, in comparison to the cooler vintages 2017 and 2019 on either side, it was. However, other aspects came together in 2018 to create something really special, the likes of which Margaret River had not previously seen and hasn't quite seen yet since. The 2018 Kevin John Chardonnay is detailed and nuanced, floral and yet spicy, fruity and powerful yet long and restrained through the finish. The wines were magnificent on release, and they continue, as this continues, to be slow-aging, graceful and with a long future ahead. May we all be so fortunate. 13.6% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
98 Points - Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (March 2025)
2013 Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay
Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay. Australian wine royalty. Glowing straw colour. Rich and luscious but then steely and exquisitely long. We could have had it all, and so we did. Dry pears, fresh-sliced peaches, slipstreams of cedary/creamy oak. Some alcohol warmth, for sure. Both more-ish and commanding. Takes modern quality and injects it with sheer drinkability.
96 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
2011 Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay
Aged seven months in French oak of which 33% is new oak, and 33% of the blend undergoes malolactic fermentation, the 2011 Kevin John Chardonnay gives pronounced citrus, lemon and grapefruit notes with hints of crushed stones, ginger and almonds. Very youthful, crisp and tightly-knit on the medium-bodied palate it has a silken texture and very long, mineral-laced finish. It should drink best 2015 to 2022+.
95 Points - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate
2018 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay
et's put it this way. This is the closest I have come to awarding a wine 100 points. Stellar wine from a stellar vintage. The remarkable thing is that this is a wine 100 percent barrel fermented in new French oak barriques with regular lees stirring for 11 months- and it certainly doesn't taste excessive, or even slightly oak. It has such high-fidelity purity with complex seductive aromatics of vanilla bean and light oatmeal with a cutting minerality and spicy lift. But the palate, oh the palate. This is where things start to explode. Power, poise and persistence with a dry savouriness balancing the intense ripe fruit. It is such a long finish with an ever so slightly, charry finish completing a remarkable wine.
Best Chardonnay & White Wine of the Year & 99 Points - Ray Jordan, 2022 The West Australian Wine Guide
2016 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay
Pale colour. Fresh flinty, lemon curd, bitter lemon, grapefruit aromas with yeasty, vanilla, roasted hazelnut. Generous ripe peach, nectarine, grapefruit, pear flavours, fine silky textures, superb mid palate creaminess and integrated mineral acidity. Finishes al dente with crunchy nectarine fruits and underlying savoury notes. Lovely extract, volume and persistency. A racehorse. Drink: Now-2036.
100 Points - Andrew Caillard MW, The Vintage Journal
2008 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay
Still pale quartz-green; the finesse of Art Series Chardonnay when it is young is every bit as enjoyable as is the complexity it gains after six or seven years in bottle (under screwcap), its future still assured. We know that good bottles from the mid-1980s are still glorious, although most are now a shadow of their former selves. What we don't really know is how long the wines such as this live and flourish under screwcap.
97 Points - James Halliday, winecompanion.com.au
2019 Cherubino Frankland River Cabernet Sauvignon
A glorious example of Frankland cabernet. The varietal notes of blackcurrant and a little black olive are beautifully infiltrated by that regional ironstone character. The palate is a powerhouse with a firm core of new and one-year-old oak working with the firm chalky tannins to carry effortlessly through to a sustained finish. Still quite tight at the moment but extended cellaring will see something special.
97 Points - Ray Jordan, rayjordan.com
2012 Cherubino Frankland River Cabernet Sauvignon
Deep red colour with a good purple tint. The bouquet is oaky and rich, powerful and ripe, with black fruit aromas and flavours galore. A very big, solid wine with an impressive tannin backbone and a long, long finish. Added tannin? This seems a bit overbuilt, but no doubt extended cellaring will reap rewards. A whopper, but everything is in proportion.
95 Points - Huon Hooke, The Real Review