Just about all of Vanya Cullen’s Margaret River neighbours have produced lower-than-average grape crops this year after weather conditions in 2005 and 2006 left vines bearing smaller grapes and smaller bunches.
Just about all of Vanya Cullen’s Margaret River neighbours have produced lower-than-average grape crops this year after weather conditions in 2005 and 2006 left vines bearing smaller grapes and smaller bunches.
But Ms Cullen’s winery seems to have bucked the trend, with Cullen Wines’ harvest bigger than last year.
Ms Cullen said the quality this year was “outstanding” with the vineyard producing grapes full of flavour and intensity.
Ms Cullen can’t be sure that an overhaul of the winery’s processes three years ago is the reason her vines overcame the problematic weather conditions in 2005 and 2006.
But, she can’t rule it out.
“This is our third year as a biodynamic vineyard and the fruit we have is outstanding,” she told WA Business News.
“I’m not sure how much of that is a result of going biodynamic, but we have great balance to the fruit. Usually the acidity drops in the hot weather and the wine doesn’t have structure, but that hasn’t happened this year.”
Ms Cullen said the decision to make the winery biodynamic came after the winery became a certified organic producer in 2003.
“The same year we became organic we went to a biodynamic forum and we thought that it would be the best next step,” she said.
“It’s about looking at things holistically.”
Biodynamics agriculture aims to use the basic principles at work in nature to bring about balance and healing.
Ms Cullen said the technique involved using biodynamic products and applying them to the vineyard in association with lunar patterns and in harmony with the earth.
“We ground-spray in the afternoon when the earth breathes in,” Ms Cullen said.
She said the winery operated on a timetable that linked lunar and earth patterns to working the land.
“It was definitely more of a leap of faith than organics,” Ms Cullen said.
“We are trying to connect to the land and the cosmos so that it becomes an energetic place. We feel that, since doing it, our vines are in balance, the soils are in balance and it is unlikely that we will have decreased yields.”
Ms Cullen said the move to becoming a biodynamic vineyard meant the focus was on the fruit.
“It’s about expressing the land in the bottle, so it’s all about the fruit,” she said.
“It’s about taking care of the fruit so it can best express itself in the bottle and I really think the fruit is brighter, more lively and fruiter.”
Ms Cullen, daughter of one of the region’s pioneers, Dr Dianne Cullen, said the biodynamic shift was an evolution of the winery’s already green thumb.
The catchphrase for the winery since its first plantings in 1971 has been ‘quality, integrity and sustainability’.
Cullen Wines is also a carbon neutral business and paid to offset 261 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission through the Men of the Trees Carbon Neutral Program last year.
The program planted 1,132 native trees to offset Cullen Wines’ use of seven vehicles, air travel and energy use.
