Cullen Wines: 2024 Ancestral Wine releases

Family is fundamental to many in the world of wine. But few wineries embrace the celebration of family lineage and legacy to the degree that Cullen Wines does. The Margaret River vineyard was founded by Dr Kevin John Cullen and Diana Madeline Cullen in 1971, with the adjacent Mangan Vineyard planted between 1995 and 1997.

Fruit from both vineyards continues to contribute to some of the region’s most iconic wines made by Cullen, including its latest releases.

The ‘Ancestral Wines’ range includes Cabernet Sauvignon-based flagship, ‘Diana Madeline’, and its Chardonnay equivalent, the ‘Kevin John’. There’s also a white Bordeaux blend named after Di’s mother, ‘Grace Madeline’. For the first time this year, there’s a new addition: ‘Ephraim’, a Malbec-based wine established in 2000 that was previously labelled Mangan East Block.

Scroll down for tasting notes of the four new Cullen Wines releases

An ancestral tasting

The wines were released at a special Super New Moon Flower Day Dinner in mid-February – the first time that both of the winery’s new flagship wines launched during the same weekend.

‘The influence of the moon is really strong today; it’s the second full moon this month, and it is also a perigee, which means it is at the closest point to the earth this cycle,’ shares Vanya Cullen.

‘It’s a delightful coincidence that the ancestors, Diana and Kevin, are honoured at this time. It’s the 20th passing day of Kevin John on the 9 February 2024 and the 101st birthday of my dear mother, Diana Madeline, on the 11 February 2024. What a beautiful way to honour our ancestors as we release these two wines together for the first time!’ she adds.

Vanya is managing director and chief winemaker of Cullen Wines and has been a winemaker at the family winery since 1983. She worked in the vineyard and winery alongside her mother for 20 years and was appointed chief winemaker in 1989.

Ancient land

As the sun’s rays dropped behind the vineyard and dusk welcomed the first stars, Vanya notes: ‘Tonight is about celebrating our ancestors.’

While she references her family lineage, the ancestral celebration and respect is also for the traditional custodians of the land, the Wadandi people.

Cullen was one of the first wineries to transition to organic and biodynamic certification. It was the first in Australia to achieve carbon-neutral certification in 2007. ‘We are on such ancient land,’ acknowledges Vanya.

‘Before synthetic chemicals were used in agriculture, the land was alive and connected with the world on many different levels. The traditional custodians of this area cared for and respected the country for thousands of years before we planted vines here.

Biodynamic practices have nurtured the land again, and I think that the aliveness and purity are translated through our wines,’ she adds.

Sustainable practices

Sustainability is a key value of the winery, with Di and Vanya beginning the transition to organic viticulture together back in 1998. In 2001, the first vintage of Diana Madeline was released (previously, the wine was simply labelled as Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot).

It was also the first vintage under screwcap (Stelvin). The closure transition has substantially improved not only the consistency of preserving Cullen’s cellared wines but also the reduction in waste caused by cork closures.

Now in 2024, these new releases mark the next era for the winery, with a shift to lightweight glass for both the Kevin John Chardonnay and the Ephraim Burgundy bottles. Each bottle sees a reduction in weight from 550g to 330g, a total reduction of 4.5 tonnes of glass. The emissions cut is equivalent to 9.5 tonnes of CO2.

‘We are continuing to reduce our emissions – and the glass is one of our “scope three” [a category of carbon emissions in the GHG Protocol] and hugest contributions,’ says Vanya.

Tasting notes for the Cullen Wines 2023 releases

Family ties

There couldn’t be a more perfect location to taste the Grace Madeline 2023 than at a long dining table set up just centimetres away from the 40-plus-year-old Sauvignon Blanc vines.

Made at Cullen Winery in 1979 from estate fruit, Cullen’s iteration of a Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blend was the first wine of its style in Margaret River. The white Bordeaux blend has since become a key feature of the region.

This wine was renamed in 2018 after Grace Madeline, Di’s mother and Vanya’s grandmother.

She was an environmental warrior, suffragette and mother to three daughters – admirable traits that can be seen in the later generations of Cullen women.

‘Mum and dad were modest people. They would both be a bit horrified to see their names on the label of these wines,’ shares Vanya, in fond remembrance of her parents.

Di was the first woman to plant Merlot and Cabernet Franc in the region, and Kevin John had a deep respect for Chardonnay.

‘His belief was that the way to make the best Chardonnay in the world was to benchmark against the best in the world,’ says Vanya.

It was thanks to Kevin John that the annual International Cullen Chardonnay tasting was initiated, with 2004 marking its 39th year.

Past and present

Malbec is the rising star of the region in Vanya’s view, a fact which is evidenced by the presence of the variety in the winery’s Legacy series and Ancestral Wines portfolio.

Ephraim is a Hebrew name meaning of ‘fruitful’, and the Malbec-based blend is centred on the fruit concentration and flavour intensity that comes from the Mangan Vineyard.

It was also the name of Kevin John’s grandfather, Ephraim Mayo Clarke (1846-1921), after whom it is named.

In a story of serendipity, Clarke purchased land in the 1880s in Bunbury, about one-and-a-half hours north of Margaret River, where he established a store and a winery.

The wine he produced with his wife and mother of their 10 children was called Punchbowl and was successful in its day. In a twist of fate, their only son, a teetotaller, inherited the business, and the vines were neglected until their demise and the land was sold.

The original building and cellar still exist.

Fortunately, a similar fate seems unlikely to befall the family’s vineyards today. Cullen Wines is jointly owned by Kevin and Di’s six children: Rick, Shel, Stewart, Digby, Ariane and Vanya.

The nurturing of the next generation is keenly felt, and several members of the third generation of the Cullen clan are interested in continuing the family’s wine legacy.

Cullen Wines new 2024 releases

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