Although they’re both from South Australia, winemaker Ben Mullen and his partner Ben Hine’s primary goal with Mulline, since it launched in 2019, has always been to champion the Geelong GI.
Eighteen out of the 24 wines included in the label’s 2025 vintage release, which will hit shelves on May 1, are from single sites. “All the vineyards we work with are so different,” Mullen explains. “Pushing the subregionality of Geelong helps people understand it a bit better.
“I also love that these wines all come from the same place, but are totally different from each other,” he adds. “They’ve all got their own personalities.”
Despite an impressive resume, which includes Leeuwin Estate, Torbreck, Yarra Yering, Oakridge, Domaine Dujac in Burgundy, and Craggy Range in New Zealand, Mullen hadn’t worked with Geelong fruit prior to joining Clyde Park in 2017. But within two vintages, he was hooked.
“There are so many different aspects to the region,” he says. “The separate subregions – the Moorabool Valley, the Bellarine Peninsula and the Surf Coast – have their different soil types, but even within you can go from sandy to volcanic to limestone to rock pebbles.
“Vine age and fruit-sourcing was also there,” Mullen adds. “Geelong can produce premium wines from the four varieties I like to make. And, stylistically, the region has always been more fruit-powered, broody and structural… producing wines from single vineyards was a way to bring freshness and vibrancy and a modern edge.”
On top of championing Geelong, Mullen’s secondary goal is for his wines to get better each year. Of the 24 wines made in the 2025 vintage, 22 received gold-medal scores from Philip Rich, and the other two weren’t far off at 94 and 93 points.
“It's always nice to see scores that are a bit better than previous years,” Mullen says. “It’s good. It means we’re on the right track.
“With time, we’re learning the sites better, and what’s in the glass is looking better, which is really cool. But that’s the point, right? You can’t just keep doing the same thing. You hear it from a few people, but it’s those one- or two-percenters that can change the game in terms of the end quality.”
To taste Mulline’s 2025 vintage release, head to their cellar door on May 9 & 10. To learn more about the wines, see Philip Rich’s reviews below.
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