Vasse Felix Tom Cullity

Vasse Felix Tom Cullity bottle image

Wine Description

Vasse Felix, Margaret River's founding wine estate, was established by Dr Thomas Brendan Cullity in 1967. Among his first plantings were Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec vines, from which he produced the estate’s first red wine. The Tom Cullity descends from these original vines and represents the pinnacle of Vasse Felix.

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Acclaim
The 2016 Tom Cullity Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec today is nine years from harvest, and the wine is displaying gentle notions of dry autumn leaves, nori sheets and wafts of peat and moss, all of it woven into the strands of cassis, raspberry, dark chocolate and kelp. The wine is elegant, medium-bodied, fresh and detailed and a testament to the old vines that grew the fruit. 2016 was a warm, dry vintage, and on release, the wines were defined largely by their firm tannic presence. While this is still an obvious feature today, the tannins are beginning to soften and release their captive hold on the fruit flavors. This is a lovely wine, and the drinking window is now showing us both sides of the coin—a nice place to be. — Wine Advocate, Apr 2025
“The 2016 Tom Cullity Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec is powerful and framed by firm tannins. The fruit has the requisite power to exude balance and drive; however, in terms of drinking window, the wine is closing down at this stage. It is a superb wine from a great vintage, but purely as a drinking window indicator, this should not be touched for a while, as it is entering that awkward stage between youth and maturity. Today, it is more about tannin than it is about the fruit, but it will emerge victorious in time. Hold it, with patience.” — Wine Advocate, Apr 2024
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Vineyard & Production Info
Production area/appellation:
Margaret River
Soil composition
deep gravel loam soil over clay
Year vineyard planted:
1967
Harvest time:
March-April 2016
First vintage of this wine:
2013
Average Vine Age:
53 years
Certifying Organizations:
NASSA
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Winemaking & Aging
Prefermentation Technique:
100% wild yeast, whole berry
Time on its skins:
11-30 days
Varietal composition:
78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Malbec, 2% Petit Verdot
Fermentation container:
78% Static Fermentation, 22% Open Fermentation
Malolactic fermentation:
Full
Fining agent:
Egg white
Type of aging container:
Barriques
Type of oak:
French
Length of aging before bottling:
19 months
Age of Aging Container:
80% new, 20% 1-4 year old
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Analytical Data
pH level:
3.57
Acidity:
6.4 g/L
Alcohol:
14 %
Residual sugar:
0.33 g/L
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Wine Production

All blocks destemmed only without crushing and then allowed to ferment naturally. The Cabernet Sauvignon (making up 78%) was static fermented, gently pumped over through a splash tub and then left on skins for up to 30 days. This was a particularly brilliant year for tannin ripeness and the time on the skins allowed for the wine to become structurally sound and stabilised. The Malbec and Petit Verdot (making up 22%) were open fermented, hand plunged and pressed dry. The small sections were basket pressed to fine French oak and matured for 19 months. The strength of the fruit in this vintage resulted in a greater contribution from new oak compared to previous vintages.

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About the Vineyard

Dry warm spring conditions at the end of 2015 helped establish a healthy fruit set and better yields than the previous two seasons.