2020 Cullen Wines 'Vanya' Moon Opposite Flower Day
Runner-Up - Best Red Wine of the year in the 2025 WA Wine Review
Critic Reviews:
99 Points Ray Jordan, rayjordanwine.com.au
“This is heady stuff pushing a Margaret River cabernet into the rarefied air of Grange and Hill of Grace and at the same time making a statement about this great cabernet region. The fruit was naturally fermented and then had 13 weeks in terracotta amphorae before pressing to second fill oak. So, the oak influence is subdued but important in allowing the fruit to express itself. Lifted violet and red fruit merge with deeper dark fruit. There is a minerally fine tannin support with a slightly talcy feel. It's brilliant and bright with a burst of luminosity. One of the very finest in more than 50 years of Margaret River red wine. Margaret River has earned the right to push its best wines into this price point, and there are none better than Cullen to lead the way.”
98 Points Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
”Silky, almost slippery tannins (textured like buffed, unpolished, unsealed concrete, like river stones, rounded, pebbly) bank a stream of unbroken and seamless red fruit. It is composed and calm, effortless and lithe. There are not many Cabernets, anywhere, that conform to this shape and behavior. This is concentrated and elegant, kind of unreal. It is exciting, of the earth, a land wine. It feels it. This was made with Wilyabrup fruit that was destemmed and fermented on skins for 13 weeks in terracotta amphorae, then was pressed to a single second fill biodynamic barrel. No additions.”
98 Points Ken Gargett, winepilot.com
”The wine is a near opaque black/magenta. There are intense aromatics, with elegance and poise. This is taut, balanced and focused. The flavours intertwine with dark notes to the fore – dark chocolate, leather, cassis, blackcurrants, soy and aniseed. It then finishes with notes of cloves, graphite, tobacco leaves and axle grease. The texture is seamless, supple and seductive with the silkiest of tannins and great length. This is surely a thirty-year proposition, for those with extraordinary patience. Brilliant stuff.”
98 Points James Suckling, jamessuckling.com
”This has a deep core of blackberries, cassis, walnut husk, dried rosemary and iron shavings, followed by graceful and beautiful rose petal and orange zest notes. Red licorice and tea, too. It’s both firm and elegant with silky tannins and a lovely floral edge. Weightless. Subtle power that keeps going. From biodynamically grown grapes fermented in amphora. Moon opposite Saturn harvest; flower day.”
97 Points Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion
”It’s an enticing, heady mix of mulberries, boysenberries and cassis, all coated with baking spices, black olive tapenade and nori. Gorgeous fruit within yet so savoury; it comes stamped with place and producer. Medium-bodied, pure and long with textural, raw-silk tannins, and the palate unfurls effortlessly.”
From the Winemaker:
100% Cabernet Sauvignon; handpicked, sorted and destemmed on a flower day, Moon Opposite Saturn astral event, in early March. Fermented naturally on skins in 300 litre terracotta amphora lined with Cullen Wines’ very own beeswax, and left on skins for 92 days. The wine was then pressed on a perigee Flower day to biodynamic Flower day barrels and left to rest for another 8 months. No additions of yeast, acid, malolactic culture or fining agents, just the wines grown on these ancient soils.
Colour: Purple, deep red brick tinges
Bouquet: Plum, salty plum, mulberry, violets, roses, dusted chocolate, cherry, wild thyme, iodine, ironstone
Palate: This wine was tasted over three days and opened up as the time went on. The first day was a leaf going into flower day, and the next two days both flower days. A flower day, Moon opposite Saturn harvest, tasted over the three flower days... how wonderful to experience! Initially on the first day it was shy and closed and then on the second day full flower day, opened its heart to the world revealing, delicious satsuma plum, dark chocolate, cherry, ironstone, caramel, and wild thyme. The palate sings with elegant character and depth of connection to country. Fine grained amphora tannins ,wrap around the front palate, and the fruit flavours fantail, out right to the back palate with a gust of energy that makes you want to try and taste and drink again to finish the glass and the bottle. An elegant sophisticated wine which captures the land and sky in a glass showing one of the greatest examples of cabernet sauvignon of its type in the world.
(Cullen Wines Official Website)
Runner-Up - Best Red Wine of the year in the 2025 WA Wine Review
Critic Reviews:
99 Points Ray Jordan, rayjordanwine.com.au
“This is heady stuff pushing a Margaret River cabernet into the rarefied air of Grange and Hill of Grace and at the same time making a statement about this great cabernet region. The fruit was naturally fermented and then had 13 weeks in terracotta amphorae before pressing to second fill oak. So, the oak influence is subdued but important in allowing the fruit to express itself. Lifted violet and red fruit merge with deeper dark fruit. There is a minerally fine tannin support with a slightly talcy feel. It's brilliant and bright with a burst of luminosity. One of the very finest in more than 50 years of Margaret River red wine. Margaret River has earned the right to push its best wines into this price point, and there are none better than Cullen to lead the way.”
98 Points Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
”Silky, almost slippery tannins (textured like buffed, unpolished, unsealed concrete, like river stones, rounded, pebbly) bank a stream of unbroken and seamless red fruit. It is composed and calm, effortless and lithe. There are not many Cabernets, anywhere, that conform to this shape and behavior. This is concentrated and elegant, kind of unreal. It is exciting, of the earth, a land wine. It feels it. This was made with Wilyabrup fruit that was destemmed and fermented on skins for 13 weeks in terracotta amphorae, then was pressed to a single second fill biodynamic barrel. No additions.”
98 Points Ken Gargett, winepilot.com
”The wine is a near opaque black/magenta. There are intense aromatics, with elegance and poise. This is taut, balanced and focused. The flavours intertwine with dark notes to the fore – dark chocolate, leather, cassis, blackcurrants, soy and aniseed. It then finishes with notes of cloves, graphite, tobacco leaves and axle grease. The texture is seamless, supple and seductive with the silkiest of tannins and great length. This is surely a thirty-year proposition, for those with extraordinary patience. Brilliant stuff.”
98 Points James Suckling, jamessuckling.com
”This has a deep core of blackberries, cassis, walnut husk, dried rosemary and iron shavings, followed by graceful and beautiful rose petal and orange zest notes. Red licorice and tea, too. It’s both firm and elegant with silky tannins and a lovely floral edge. Weightless. Subtle power that keeps going. From biodynamically grown grapes fermented in amphora. Moon opposite Saturn harvest; flower day.”
97 Points Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion
”It’s an enticing, heady mix of mulberries, boysenberries and cassis, all coated with baking spices, black olive tapenade and nori. Gorgeous fruit within yet so savoury; it comes stamped with place and producer. Medium-bodied, pure and long with textural, raw-silk tannins, and the palate unfurls effortlessly.”
From the Winemaker:
100% Cabernet Sauvignon; handpicked, sorted and destemmed on a flower day, Moon Opposite Saturn astral event, in early March. Fermented naturally on skins in 300 litre terracotta amphora lined with Cullen Wines’ very own beeswax, and left on skins for 92 days. The wine was then pressed on a perigee Flower day to biodynamic Flower day barrels and left to rest for another 8 months. No additions of yeast, acid, malolactic culture or fining agents, just the wines grown on these ancient soils.
Colour: Purple, deep red brick tinges
Bouquet: Plum, salty plum, mulberry, violets, roses, dusted chocolate, cherry, wild thyme, iodine, ironstone
Palate: This wine was tasted over three days and opened up as the time went on. The first day was a leaf going into flower day, and the next two days both flower days. A flower day, Moon opposite Saturn harvest, tasted over the three flower days... how wonderful to experience! Initially on the first day it was shy and closed and then on the second day full flower day, opened its heart to the world revealing, delicious satsuma plum, dark chocolate, cherry, ironstone, caramel, and wild thyme. The palate sings with elegant character and depth of connection to country. Fine grained amphora tannins ,wrap around the front palate, and the fruit flavours fantail, out right to the back palate with a gust of energy that makes you want to try and taste and drink again to finish the glass and the bottle. An elegant sophisticated wine which captures the land and sky in a glass showing one of the greatest examples of cabernet sauvignon of its type in the world.
(Cullen Wines Official Website)
Runner-Up - Best Red Wine of the year in the 2025 WA Wine Review
Critic Reviews:
99 Points Ray Jordan, rayjordanwine.com.au
“This is heady stuff pushing a Margaret River cabernet into the rarefied air of Grange and Hill of Grace and at the same time making a statement about this great cabernet region. The fruit was naturally fermented and then had 13 weeks in terracotta amphorae before pressing to second fill oak. So, the oak influence is subdued but important in allowing the fruit to express itself. Lifted violet and red fruit merge with deeper dark fruit. There is a minerally fine tannin support with a slightly talcy feel. It's brilliant and bright with a burst of luminosity. One of the very finest in more than 50 years of Margaret River red wine. Margaret River has earned the right to push its best wines into this price point, and there are none better than Cullen to lead the way.”
98 Points Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
”Silky, almost slippery tannins (textured like buffed, unpolished, unsealed concrete, like river stones, rounded, pebbly) bank a stream of unbroken and seamless red fruit. It is composed and calm, effortless and lithe. There are not many Cabernets, anywhere, that conform to this shape and behavior. This is concentrated and elegant, kind of unreal. It is exciting, of the earth, a land wine. It feels it. This was made with Wilyabrup fruit that was destemmed and fermented on skins for 13 weeks in terracotta amphorae, then was pressed to a single second fill biodynamic barrel. No additions.”
98 Points Ken Gargett, winepilot.com
”The wine is a near opaque black/magenta. There are intense aromatics, with elegance and poise. This is taut, balanced and focused. The flavours intertwine with dark notes to the fore – dark chocolate, leather, cassis, blackcurrants, soy and aniseed. It then finishes with notes of cloves, graphite, tobacco leaves and axle grease. The texture is seamless, supple and seductive with the silkiest of tannins and great length. This is surely a thirty-year proposition, for those with extraordinary patience. Brilliant stuff.”
98 Points James Suckling, jamessuckling.com
”This has a deep core of blackberries, cassis, walnut husk, dried rosemary and iron shavings, followed by graceful and beautiful rose petal and orange zest notes. Red licorice and tea, too. It’s both firm and elegant with silky tannins and a lovely floral edge. Weightless. Subtle power that keeps going. From biodynamically grown grapes fermented in amphora. Moon opposite Saturn harvest; flower day.”
97 Points Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion
”It’s an enticing, heady mix of mulberries, boysenberries and cassis, all coated with baking spices, black olive tapenade and nori. Gorgeous fruit within yet so savoury; it comes stamped with place and producer. Medium-bodied, pure and long with textural, raw-silk tannins, and the palate unfurls effortlessly.”
From the Winemaker:
100% Cabernet Sauvignon; handpicked, sorted and destemmed on a flower day, Moon Opposite Saturn astral event, in early March. Fermented naturally on skins in 300 litre terracotta amphora lined with Cullen Wines’ very own beeswax, and left on skins for 92 days. The wine was then pressed on a perigee Flower day to biodynamic Flower day barrels and left to rest for another 8 months. No additions of yeast, acid, malolactic culture or fining agents, just the wines grown on these ancient soils.
Colour: Purple, deep red brick tinges
Bouquet: Plum, salty plum, mulberry, violets, roses, dusted chocolate, cherry, wild thyme, iodine, ironstone
Palate: This wine was tasted over three days and opened up as the time went on. The first day was a leaf going into flower day, and the next two days both flower days. A flower day, Moon opposite Saturn harvest, tasted over the three flower days... how wonderful to experience! Initially on the first day it was shy and closed and then on the second day full flower day, opened its heart to the world revealing, delicious satsuma plum, dark chocolate, cherry, ironstone, caramel, and wild thyme. The palate sings with elegant character and depth of connection to country. Fine grained amphora tannins ,wrap around the front palate, and the fruit flavours fantail, out right to the back palate with a gust of energy that makes you want to try and taste and drink again to finish the glass and the bottle. An elegant sophisticated wine which captures the land and sky in a glass showing one of the greatest examples of cabernet sauvignon of its type in the world.
(Cullen Wines Official Website)
