Planted: 1971, 1976, and 1988
Area: 28 hectares (70 acres)
Varieties grown: Cabernet Sauvignon; Merlot; Cabernet Franc; Malbec; Chardonnay; Sauvignon Blanc; Semillon and Chenin Blanc.
Dry farmed, A grade Biodynamic certification with Biological Farmers Association (BFA) of Australia.
Cullen follows the maxim that states that great wines are made in the vineyard. Thus, prior to planting, extreme care is taken in choosing the best possible site. Fruit for all Cullen Wines is sourced exclusively from two vineyards, the Cullen Estate Vineyard and the Cullen Mangan Vineyard, both certified A Grade Biodynamic by the Biological Farmers Association (BFA) of Australia.
This fulfils the philosophies of quality, integrity and sustainability by having single vineyard sites grown using biodynamic techniques.
The soils at Cullen are old, granite and gravely sandy loam, overlaying lateritic subsoils. The vines are dry farmed, helping to ensure maximum fruit quality, and are both pruned and harvested by hand. Low yields enable the flavours of the grapes to develop fully.
The Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon due to their higher vigour are on a Lyre trellis. This gives a great area for the leaves and fruit to grow on, thereby enabling the fruit to reach proper physiological ripeness. The Chardonnay has been put on vertical shoot positioned trellis as this variety seems to favour best this training system.
The red grape varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc have been converted to Scott Henry Trellis. This is to increase ripe flavours and develop higher quality tannins.
The Cullen Vineyard
The Cullen Mangan Vineyard
Planted: 1995 and 1997
Area: 21 hectares (52 acres)
Varieties grown: Malbec; Merlot; Petit Verdot; Sauvignon Blanc; Semillon and Verdehlo.
Dry farmed, A grade Biodynamic certification with Biological Farmers Association (BFA) of Australia.
“Vanya Cullen has taken her Cabernet Merlot to the top echelon of Australian Cabernet through dogged determination, curiosity and superb technical skills. The exemplary vineyard site is planted on ancient granitic soils…Cullen has adopted the principles of biodynamic viticulture to achieve greater individuality of site through working with nature rather than against it. Diana Madeline Cabernet Merlot is pure bottled philosophy.” ~ Andrew Caillard, Langtons Fine Wines.