So, as we celebrate 40 years of Classic Dry White and release the much anticipated 2023 TOM CULLITY, we reflect on how closely these wines, and so much of the Vasse Felix story, are woven together.
Classic Dry White remains an enduring favourite, while TOM CULLITY is our icon, the ultimate expression of Tom’s original Cabernet vines. And the 2023 is something very special, with Ray Jordan calling it simply, “The finest Tom yet.”
So that little vineyard in front of our Cellar Door spawned not just Margaret River’s first ever wine, but also our original Classic Dry White, and will, one day,
find its way into TOM CULLITY. Amazing!
There is plenty else happening too, including the reopening of the Margaret River Hotel just down the road. But that’s what the rest of The Peregrine is for.
Enjoy the read, enjoy the wines, and we hope to see you in Margaret River over summer.
Cheers,
Paul Holmes à Court
Guide
The Peregrine | Summer 2027
INTRODUCING THE 2023 TOM CULLITY.
In the latest Summer edition of The Peregrine magazine, we celebrate the release of the 2023 TOM CULLITY.
This issue features seasonal gift ideas, details on all latest release wines, a special Home Vineyard update and a chat with Head Chef Cam Jones.
Discover what the Vasse Felix team will be up to this summer on page 28, as well as exciting updates from our friends at Idée Fixe and the Margaret River Hotel.
Peruse the digital edition via link below.
An excerpt...
Recently, John Hanley, one of the great gentlemen and icons of the Western Australian wine industry, gave me an extraordinary gift.
It was a bottle of 1972 Vasse Felix Rhine Riesling, given to him by Tom Cullity himself, which he wished to see live in our museum. Ours and Margaret River’s first ever release, it won a gold medal and helped demonstrate that something very special was possible in Margaret River. Holding it more than half a century later was quite something.
Beyond our gratitude for the gesture, there is another wonderful part to the story. The Riesling grapes that made that wine grew on the small patch of vineyard immediately in front of our Cellar Door, planted by Dr Tom Cullity in 1967. Years later, David Gregg directed fruit from those vines into our first Classic Dry White, released in 1987.
The block was subsequently replanted to Cabernet and, after more than 20 years, we have now replanted it again, with a special selection propagated from Tom Cullity’s original Cabernet vines. Our hope is that its fruit will one day make its way into TOM CULLITY.
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