Fifth-generation McWilliam rebuilds winemaking legacy in Hunter Valley
David McWilliam, a fifth-generation member of one of Australia’s best-known winemaking families, plans to rebuild a business in his family’s name after the original company collapsed and was sold three years ago to Calabria Family Wines and the Rich List Medich family.
Mr McWilliam has acquired 95 hectares – about half of the Pokolbin-based Black Cluster vineyard – for $4.25 million and created a new wine brand called David McWilliam Wines. The new brand would focus on premium wines, a market that the old company failed to capture, Mr McWilliam said.
“From a business perspective, there was too broad of a family to really align a strategy. Keeping that tight will be really important for me going forward.”
The new company is run only by members of Mr McWilliam’s immediate family.
The McWilliam family’s decision to re-enter the winemaking industry at a smaller scale is not unique. Barossa-based Grant Burge has bought and sold the Krondorf Winery twice over 46 years and the current owner is Accolade Wines, Australia’s second-largest wine company.
Mr Burge now manages only his family-owned Illaparra Winery and cellar door in Tanunda.
McWilliam’s investment comes at a time when winemakers across the country are anticipating a return of – but have no certainty about – the huge China market that was previously worth an annual $1.5 billion in sales. The Chinese government is partway through a review of its sanctions against Australian wine.
But wine critic Jeremy Oliverquestioned whether China’s market for Australian winewould return to the same previous highs.
“China is today a very different market and my guesstimate is that it might return to around $250 to $300 million for a variety of reasons – although I sincerely hope I’m wrong,” Mr Oliver said.
Mr McWilliam said he was not worried about the China situation as the newer, smaller operation meant that his focus would be on the Australian market.
One irony of the new venture, however, was that it put Mr McWilliam in competition with his original namesake.
David McWilliam Wines has no connection with the Calabria-owned McWilliam’s Wines. But geography, for one, would differentiate David McWilliam Wines from the Calabria Family product, he said.
“The Calabria family have done a good job of focusing on the traditional Riverina product range that really suits the region, while David McWilliam Wines will really be about the Hunter Valley’s distinct flavour,” he said.
Seller of the Pokolbin asset, Leogate Estate, bought the entire Black Cluster vineyard in 2020 as a restoration project. At the time of Leogate’s purchase, the vineyards had been left in poor condition by then-owner, Chinese company Virgo. Leogate then put up the Black Cluster vineyard for sale last year after it was restored.
Jurd’s Real Estate’s Dan Jurd brokered the sale, though the remaining half of the Black Cluster vineyard remains available.
After three years of planning, Mr McWilliam said he was excited to show McWilliam-produced wine to the world again. David McWilliam Wines started harvesting its first grapes on Sunday for what would be its semillon 2024 vintage. The shiraz grapes would be harvested in a few weeks’ time.
“It’s a part of our heritage, so we’re really excited going forward with being back in the Hunter as a McWilliam family and re-establishing a brand,” he said.
