Oral History - Vanya Cullen

Vanya was educated at Busselton Primary and High Schools and St Hilda’s School for Girls in Perth before attending the University of Western Australia, where she studied zoology and music. She then went to Adelaide where she studied music and wine production. She also studied wine growing and production in New Zealand, California and Burgundy before returning to Cullen's Winery to join her mother who was then the winemaker.
She describes how the early wine growers in the Wilyabrup area were community-minded, friendly and compatible, happy to share ideas and problems and how this changed over the years.
The quality of her wines supports the methods she has adopted and applied to her vineyard.
Vanya received the Australian Winemaker of the Year award from Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine in 2000, and in 2023 she was awarded an OAM [Order of Australia Medal] for ‘services to viticulture’. She, along with her parents, are true pioneers of the Margaret River wine-growing region.

For a copy of the full transcript, please contact us at oralhistory@busseltonhistoricalsociety.org.au