2017 Tom Cullity Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec

2017 was a challenging vintage in Margaret River, in that it was cool and wet and had plentiful yields. Those who managed the vineyards and yields diligently and constantly were rewarded. While I have been critical of many Cabernets from this vintage in Margaret River, the best are beginning to show their inherent delicacy and detail. Here, the 2017 Tom Cullity Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec is very finely textured and light in the mouth, and while the fruit is starting to show development through the finish in the form of leather and sage, the tannins curl and wrap around that fruit and extend it through the long finish. This is a beautiful wine.

This is finespun and lithe in its aromatic lift. Plum and cedar make way for bay leaf and tilled earth to start. There's some crushed violet and gentle lavendar floral tones hovering over the fruit as well as a grounding shot of graphite. Elegant and gently aromatic. The palate follows suit - it's pretty and floral, lithe and lifted. Crushed violets, mulberry, lavendar, bay, gravel and graphite. Good tannins, too, they're firm and grainy, towing the line to good length. Lovely class and elegance here from the coolest Margaret River vintage in recent times.

Saturated ruby. Highly perfumed, mineral-accented red and blue fruit, exotic spice, potpourri and incense aromas show superb clarity and pick up hints of cured tobacco and vanilla with air. Sweet, seamless and juicy on the palate, offering intense kirsch, black currant, spicecake and candied rose flavors and a touch of cracked pepper. Deepens steadily through the finish, which delivers superb persistence, youthfully gripping tannins and a resonating floral note.