All Cullen Wines are grown on a certified Biodynamic, Carbon Neutral and naturally powered estate. Grapes are harvested by hand on fruit and flower days according to the astrological calendar. The wines have no additions of yeast, acid or malolactic culture, and are in this sense natural wines which express the place and land on which they are grown, the vintage and the people.

A special chardonnay for Cullen Wines, this vintage aligns with Kevin John’s 100th birth year. His daughter Vanya has steered the winemaking and viticultural ship with fine wine-faring style and integrity over the years, and this Chardonnay is no exception to the quality of its predecessors. The 2022 vintage was a cooler one with a few heat spikes and lower yields, and the fruit for this wine was hand harvested around the biodynamic calendar over eight different harvest times from the 3rd to the 21st of February. It’s still a little shy in the glass, which is understandable given its youth; however, it already shows vibrancy, purity and promise. Fresh sea spray, citrus pith, preserved lemon, wet stone and a crisp nectarine note, gentle nutmeg spice and a wild flintiness. The palate is rounded and suave. Flavours echo the nose with crunchy nectarine, white jasmine florals and some snow pea shoot prettiness alongside finely woven phenolics and preserved lemon salinity. With six months in fifty per cent new oak (biodynamic puncheons), its presence is distinctive yet balanced and will provide a cradle for the fruit to age within. Fantastic length, detailed texture and firm acidity. A truthful wine that expresses its place, people and vintage. Date: Jun 2023; Drink: 2023-2038; Rating: 96 Points; Wine Pilot

This wine is harvested in Kevin John’s 100th birth year. Harvested from 3 separate Wente clone chardonnay blocks, planted in 1976 and 1988, on their own roots. Gee, it’s a powerful and dry spicy wine. Lemon peel, cinnamon and clove spice, pear, fresh pineapple, apricot, and ripe lime, roasted peanuts. It’s flinty, zesty, kind of oaky too, but the fruit swallows it up, and carries on with aniseed, dried pear, lavish spice, tight grapefruity acidity, very intense, flinty and dry, chamomile and ginger on a finish of superb length. Chalky, spicy, oaky, a whole lot of Chardonnay power here, It’s bursting with vitality and it’s pretty full on as a young wine; like staring at the sun. But give it time, and it should reward most handsomely. Date: May 2023; Alcohol: 13.5%; Closure: Screwcap; Drink: 2025-2032+; Rated: 95+ Points; Gary Walsh; The Wine Front