Icon Range Tom Cullity Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec

Tom Cullity is Vasse Felix's flagship red, drawn from the estate's oldest Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec vines, planted by founder Dr Tom Cullity in 1967 and among the oldest Cabernet plantings in Australia. The blend is Cabernet Sauvignon-led with a meaningful

proportion of Malbec (recent vintages have run roughly three-quarters Cabernet Sauvignon to under a fifth Malbec, with a small addition of Petit Verdot in some years) — the Malbec contributes dark fruit lift and a softer mid-palate against the Cabernet's structure.

Under chief winemaker Virginia Willcock, who has led the wine program since 2006, the style favours savoury, earthy, ferrous tannin over overt oak or jammy fruit, aromas of cassis and red licorice sitting alongside pepper, dried herb and mineral tones. It is built to reward a decade or more in bottle rather than immediate drinking.

As Margaret River's oldest continuously producing estate, the wine functions as a vertical record of the region's Cabernet potential — critics have tasted verticals back to the early 2010s specifically to trace that evolution.