Ranked #6 of 51 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Cabernet Franc from Wilyabrup
94/100
4.5 Stars
Huon Hooke
Medium-depth red colour with a purple tinge. Shy, subdued bouquet with a fruit-driven kind of simplicity. Red and dark fruits. Some violets come through on the palate, which is firm and taut, elegant and attractively proportioned. A medium to full-bodied, stately, elegant cabernet blend with lovely poise and understated class. There's a purity of fruit about it. Lovely drinking and worth cellaring.
Tasted: 13/04/2014
Drink: 2014 to 2032
95 Points Robert Parker
Deep garnet-purple in color and showing a slightly reticent nose of ripe plums, blackcurrants and blackberries with touches of cedar, toast, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and pencil lead, the medium-bodied 2012 Diana Madeline displays outstanding intensity and great elegance on the palate. It has a lovely backbone of firm, fine-grained tannins and balanced acidity to carry the flavors through a finishing with great persistence. Drink it now to 2025+.
Source: Robert Parker (Robert Parker Wine Advocate) by Lisa Perrotti-Brown. August, 2014
98 Points James Halliday
A 76/17/7% blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc aged for 19 months in French barriques (38% new). The palate has astonishing power and length given its alcohol, reflecting the years during which the vineyard has been managed biodynamically, the soil filled with life and beneficial micro-organisms that are indisputably having a positive impact on the vines. You might well be looking at a wine from Bordeaux's Left Bank, coiled up like a spring, but perfectly balanced, the finish almost painfully long. Drink to 2042.
Source: James Halliday. March, 2014