Cullen Ephraim 2024

94 POINTS

Jane Faulkner - Halliday Wine Companion

A new wine, which the back label says is in honour of Kevin John Cullen’s grandfather. It’s a blend of 76/24% malbec/petit verdot off the Mangan vineyard, aged in 30% new oak for eight months. The colour is the most outrageous and fabulous deep purple, gothic almost. Beautifully fragrant with violets, Mr. Lincoln roses and so much spice it’s heady. It's a little stony, with juicy black plums, blackberries, raspberry-like acidity and cocoa-powder tannins. There’s a lot to this wine and, while it’s certainly showing off an exuberance of youth, this will morph into something much more complex in time.

94 POINTS

Gary Walsh - The Wine Front

I published a review of this earlier, then I accidentally overwrote it with the PF Malbec. I was supposed to copy it. Bugger. I now have to write the review again, and I bet it’s not as good as the first one either. Anyway. This is 76% Malbec and 24% Petit Verdot from the Mangan Vineyard. 30% new oak. Look at the colour on this! It’s kind of neon purple. Plum, blackberry, cocoa powder, liquorice, biscuit spice, and violet perfume. It’s medium-bodied, and in particular has fresh blackberry acidity, which is something of a feature of this wine, and it feels quite ‘minerally’ in that way, there’s some ferrous and chalky tannin, which lends chewy grip, and the finish is bright and long, offering perfume, black olive and raspberry pip tang. It’s a wine of distinct personality and energy. I like it a lot.

92 POINTS

Ken Gargett - Winepilot

Ephraim Mayo Clarke was Kevin John Cullen’s grandfather, Vanya’s great-grandfather, a Member of Parliament who preceded the efforts of his descendants by establishing the first winery in the southwest, in Bunbury, way back in 1896. From the Mangan vineyard, this is a blend of 76% Malbec and 24% Petit Verdot, which saw eight months in oak, 30% new. Opaque maroon, the nose reveals aromas of plums, spices, black cherries, red apples and raspberries, with hints of woodsmoke. Still very youthful, from a record hot, dry vintage, there is mouth puckering acidity, velvety tannins, bright flavours and a persistent finish. Will provide a lot of pleasure over the next two to four years but well cellared, will go on a lot further than that.

92 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2024 Ephraim is a blend of Malbec (76%) and Petit Verdot (24%). The wine is abundantly aromatic with black berries, pomegranate, cherry, black plum and violets. It is intense, concentrated and full-on; however, in the mouth, it is surprisingly fine. I expected more—more impactful tannin, more oak extract—yet in reality, not. For all the available words, it's not a simple wine to describe. It has purity of fruit and clarity of expression; it is tart, but that works too—like biting a plum; and the tannins, while profuse, are chalky. Despite myself, I really like the wine. The tannins have a floral, asphalt character. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.