Cullen Wines - Rustic Biodynamic Haven in Margaret River

Cullen Vineyards

4323 Caves Rd,

Wilyabrup WA 6280,

Australia

Cullen Vineyards is Australia's first carbon-neutral biodynamic estate. Within the compound is a gorgeous garden filled with informative descriptors of biodynamic farming as well as Cullen's history. The vineyard was established in 1971 by Kevin and Diana Cullen, now named as 2 of their flagship wines. The vineyard itself started to embrace organic viticulture as early as in 1998 and obtained biodynamic certification in 2004.

For those who want to know a little more about biodynamic farming. Cullen wines utilizes a 6 season calendar inspired by Wadandi seasonal cycles and lunar rhythm, which means that harvesting grapes and timing tasting depends on the calendar. The indigenous calendar is slightly different from a 4 season European biodynamic calendar and is meant to incorporate the more subtle climate differences in Wilyabrup Margaret River.

Main Entrance to the tasting rooms and dining areas

The estate is huge and there is a beautiful outdoor space and a rustic homely indoor space which houses the tasting rooms as well as the dining area. The space which is decorated in reclaimed timbers and warm stone floors, is like a cozy farmhouse kitchen with the perfect amount of sunlight filtering in through the garden windows.

Focaccia with cultured butter together with pickled seasonal vegetables, smoked sea salt and bush herbs

4 Course Seasonal Menu of entree, main and desserts. For our party of 3, we had a selection of:

• House Baked Foccacia with Butter and Chef's Accompaniments

• Entree:

  • Seared Scallops, Cauliflower, Native Lime, Kohlrabi, Roast Chicken Sauce, Trout Roe

  • Barbequed Pork Belly, Macadamia, Mandarin, Purple Sun Carrots, Black Garlic

• Mains:

  • Goldband Snapper, Crab Croquette, Warrigal, Turnip, Snapper Sauce

  • Arkady Lamb Rump, Heirloom Pumpkin, Cipollini Onions, Artichokes, Lamb Sauce

• Desserts:

  • Vanilla Sponge, Passionfruit Cream, Dulce De Leche, Malt Ice Cream

  • Organic Honey Mousse, Macadamia, Muntries, Feijoa Ice Cream

  • Blackwood Blue, Pear, Raisin Jam, Walnuts, Nordic Crackers

Cullen's restaurant have won multiple Chef Hats over the years and is currently seating at a cumulative 15 Chef Hats, which also sits under the category of Food quite out of the ordinary, worth a stop on the way. Which we concur with. Our entrees were beautifully seasoned and our mains were spot on. The snapper was very delightfully cooked but the stand out had to be the Arkady lamb rump. Our server said this is our plate of happy lamb and she was right. The meat was so tender and flavourful and hearty. And to end the meal, our desserts were spectacular. All three were really delicious and ended our meal on a high.

Head Chef Ben Day evidently adopts the philosophy of biodynamic principles into the kitchen as well. We learn that 90 % of the produce is grown on site in separate biodynamic kitchen gardens. This approach ties in nicely with the wines produced on site and perhaps that is why the pairing and the food was absolutely delightful.

We had one ancestral wine pairing and other separate glasses which included:

• 2019 Chardonnay Pet Nat - a sparkling unfiltered homage to the Kevin John Chardonnay. A very nice natural expression

• 2021 Grace Madeline - Bordeaux blend with fine tannins and black berry forward notes

• 2020 Diana Madeline - Flagship red blend with beautiful layers of dark fruit, cedar and structure

• 2024 PF Malbec - Velvety with dark fruits and spice

For those of you who are more into your biodynamic farming calendars, we visited Cullen wines on a Fruit Day, which means it was the perfect day for the vines and wines to exhibit their expressive fruit character, typically meant to showcase heightened berry aromas, ripe stone fruit notes and an energetic, forward palate.

Booking

The next available Saturday afternoon reservation is for a month out. As the restaurant is not huge, I highly recommend making a reservation way ahead of time. When we were there, the restaurant was full. There is also not a huge team, so expect some wait times between getting seated and served - time is not something to worry about when you are on a road trip to Margaret River (:

Accessibility

Whilst it is accessible via the regional Busselton-Margaret River Bus Service, I would say most people would be accessing Margaret River by car. It is only a 15 minute drive from Margaret River Town and a great place to go around the nearby vineyards for the various tastings.

The Damage

Our set menu was 110 AUD per person and we had an ancestral wine pairing for 95 AUD. For the quality of the food and the wine, it was a great deal.

Would We Recommend?

Yes and yes! Rustic, homely, quality food served with biodynamic wines in a gorgeous historic vineyard is a winner. Cullen Wines have a strong philosphy around biodynamic farming and this is well integrated in both the cuisine as well as their wines. We thought we were coming for the wines, but we left loving the food.