2025 Grace Madeline Wilyabrup Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon, Cullen

• Style: Bone-dry barrel-fermented Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon, Margaret River, Australia, 13.5%, certified biodynamic, vegan-friendly
• Taste: Beeswax, quince, white blossom, lemon curd, taut acidity
• Food: Shellfish & crustacean, white fish, soft creamy cheese, salads & light dishes
• Occasion: Sunday lunch; date night
• Serve: Chilled; screwcap; drinks now, will hold a few years in the rack

In the Glass — Tasting Notes

The 2025 Cullen Grace Madeline Wilyabrup Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon is a barrel-fermented Margaret River white that carries itself like a serious oaked Bordeaux blanc yet tastes unmistakably of the Western Australian coast. Put Sauvignon Blanc through a wild-yeast barrel ferment and a night on its skins and the pungent green shout gives way to texture: beeswax and honey wrapped around apple and quince, white blossom and a flick of citrus keeping the whole thing airborne. The smaller Semillon share, pressed straight off and rested in French barrels, is the quiet spine. Pale straw-gold in the glass, acidity still taut, while dried pear, lemon curd and a vanilla edge from six months in part-new oak round out the mid-palate. Bone dry at 13.5%, from dry-grown vines planted in 1976, and with the backbone to sit in the rack for a few years without losing anything.

The Winery — Cullen

Cullen ranks among the longest-established and most decorated family estates in Margaret River, Western Australia. Dr Kevin and Diana Cullen planted the Wilyabrup property in 1971; their daughter Vanya Cullen now runs it, farming certified biodynamic, carbon neutral and on natural power under a three-word creed of quality, integrity and sustainability. Her wines draw acclaim at home and abroad: in 2019, marking three decades in charge, she took Winemaker of the Year at both the Halliday Wine Companion Awards and the Australian Women in Wine Awards, and in 2023 she was given the Order of Australia (OAM) for her work in wine and viticulture, having inspired a generation of biodynamic growers. The Grace Madeline bottling is named for Diana's London-born mother Grace, a campaigning suffragette. The 2025 season brought a rare double budburst in Wilyabrup that cut the crop hard, leaving a tiny, concentrated harvest with lifted perfume and a touch softer acidity than the year before; the fruit was wild-yeast fermented in barrel, the Semillon pressed straight off, and the wine spent six months in part-new French oak before bottling under screwcap. Vegan-friendly.

At Your Table — Food Pairing & Serving

This is built for the table. Pour the Grace Madeline chilled with scallops seared in brown butter, a salt-baked sea bass or a simple roast chicken with tarragon; shellfish and crustacean, white fish, soft creamy cheeses and salads or lighter dishes all sit comfortably with its beeswax-and-citrus weight. It suits a long Sunday lunch as readily as a date night, drinks beautifully now and will reward a few years of patience. For me it is the standout among our Western Australia whites, and if oaked, textural whites of this kind speak to you, do browse the rest of what I have brought in from Australia and beyond.