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Wilyabrup’s Cullen Wines scores top WA winery, seventh Australian overall in new Halliday Wine Companion

Warren HatelyAugusta Margaret River Times
Winemaker Vanya Cullen.
Camera IconWinemaker Vanya Cullen. Credit: FRANCES ANDRIJICH/TheWest

Wilyabrup’s Cullen Wines has come up trumps in the latest James Halliday reviews, scoring ahead of hundreds of wineries across the nation.

The biodynamic operator was ranked WA’s top winery in the latest Halliday Wine Companion, released earlier this month, and scored seventh in Australian wineries overall.

Cullen Wines matriarch Vanya Cullen told the Times the recognition was a great honour.

“This is a celebration of the best wineries of right now and to be amongst such a stellar cast is truly humbling,” the celebrated winemaker said.

“Congratulations also to all the other Margaret River wineries also to make this incredible selection.”

Also making the esteemed list’s top 100 was Vasse Felix (25), Leeuwin Estate (37), Deep Woods Estate (41), Xanadu Wines (44), Cherubino (48), L.A.S Vino (54), Stella Bella Wines (59), Flametree Estate (70) and Juniper Estate (78).

Margaret River Wine Association chief Amanda Whiteland said she was thrilled to see 10 local wineries make the overall list.

The Halliday Companion recognised Cullen had gone to considerable lengths to advance upon the legacy of her parents, the winery’s founders Kevin and Diana Madeline Cullen.

Halliday editor Campbell Mattinson said Cullen Wines was already considered “iconic” when the respected winemaker took over.

“Vanya Cullen was on a hiding to nothing when she took over the family winery in Margaret River in the 1990s,” the writer and judge said.

“It was already iconic and already ensconced on the Langton’s classification of fine wine.

“The best she could achieve, it seemed, was more of the same.

“And yet somehow, inch by inch, she has made both the estate and the wines that it grows even better, and more exciting, and more authentic, and she has done so in a way that could only have been achieved by her.”

Ms Cullen said organic and biodynamic wines were a long-held passion, with the goal of “making the best quality wines sustainably”.

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