Cullen Wines

A Brief History

Winegrowing began on the Cullen property in Margaret River 50 years ago. Studies in the early 1960s showed that Margaret River had some very special qualities. The climate was particularly suited to growing Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. On the advice of eminent agronomist Dr John Gladstones, Dr Kevin and Diana Cullen planted a trial acre of vines at Wilyabrup in 1966. The encouraging results of this led to the planting of 18 acres of vines on their sheep and cattle farm in 1971.

Wine Growing 

Cullen wine comes from the heart of the land rather than the mind of the winemaker. At Cullen, they take seriously their job as custodians of the land, to acknowledge the Wadandi people as the previous custodians with respect, and to look after the ancient Wilyabrup soils. Certified biodynamic, they add BD preparation 500 to their soil to create microbiologically active, intelligent soil. They harvest the grapes on auspicious planetary aspects, usually about the Moon, and press them in the winery with no additions at all. This is the purest form of winemaking with respect to place, on some of the oldest, most beautiful land. Wilyabrup’s Mediterranean maritime climate makes it possible to do that year in, year out, and have consistent quality grapes. Some try to tweak nature to make it perfect, Vanya Cullen knows nature is perfect already.

Biodynamics 

Since the Estate was planted, chemical intervention was minimal and the family's concern for the environment paramount. In 1998 the change to total organic viticulture was made. Diana and Vanya went intuitively towards healing the soil by putting back what had been taken out. As a result, the Cullen Vineyard gained A Grade Organic Certification in 2003, followed by A Grade Biodynamic Certification in 2004 (Vineyard) and 2008 (Winery) by the Biological Farmers Association of Australia.  Awards Cullen Wines is one of Australia’s most awarded wineries. Named Best Winery in Australia 2020 by The Real Review and one of the Top 9 Most Beautiful Biodynamic Wineries in the World by USA Architecture magazine in honour of Earth Day 2017. Vanya Cullen was awarded Halliday Wine Companion Winemaker of the Year 2020 and Women in Wine Winemaker of the Year 2019. Diana Madeline was named Wine of the Year 2020 by Ray Jordan, The Best Red Wine in Langton’s 2020 Top 6, awarded 99 points by Ray Jordan and James Suckling’s Australian reviewer Nick Stock, included in Decanter’s 2020 Top 20 Wines as well as many other high scores.