Coming from a single vineyard planted in 1971 and 1976, the 2009 Diana Madeline is a blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, 4% Merlot and 2% Malbec. It was aged for around 13 months in French barriques, 55% new. Deep garnet-purple colored, it offers expressive aromas of ripe cassis, freshly crushed blackberries and blueberries over cloves, damp loam, hung meat, grated mace, dried Mediterranean herbs and a dusting of dark chocolate powder. Medium bodied and wonderfully graceful on the palate, it has crisp acid, firm finely grained tannins and a long earthy finish. It really needs another year or two in bottle to open-out, drinking best 2013 to 2023+.

(88% cabernet sauvignon, 6% cabernet franc, 4% merlot and 2% malbec, raised in 55% new French oak; 12.5% alcohol): Dark violet. Fresh cherry and raspberry aromas are complemented by pipe tobacco and dried rose. Silky and sweet in the mouth, with bright red fruit flavors complemented by deeper bitter chocolate and herbal nuances. Firmly structured but in no way hard, finishing with excellent clarity and sappy persistence.

A miraculous 12.5% and yet impeccably ripe with mulch, peat and an iodine minerality giving pulse and great length. Cabernet dominant Bordeaux blend. This wine is clearly reflective of its meager, ancient and stony soils. Long and sappy. Penetrative. Needs time to shed its tannins, but so not in the mold of extract and really ripe fruit that many perceive the New World, let alone Australia, as being all about! Screwcap. This will age for twenty years although approachable after five years.