McWilliam Family

The McWilliam family name stands for a long, rich history of and award winning winemaking. One of Australia's oldest family wineries, McWilliam's Wines has six generations and more than 130 years of winemaking experience.

The people behind the name have imparted their knowledge, skill and passion and their stories are as rich, and their family as unique as the wines that carry their name. The McWilliam family has delivered generations of people committed to delivering the world the very best, benchmark wines. We'd like to introduce you to those who have shaped our history and those working with us to shape our future.

For further information regarding the McWilliam family's history, please visit http://users.dragnet.com.au/~dougmcw/.

Founder

Samuel McWilliam was born on 15 April, 1830 at Raloo, near Larne, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He was the second son of a family of six boys and one girl from the marriage of Samuel McWilliam, snr. (1800-1882) and Elizabeth Crawford (1801-1872).

Samuel arrived in Melbourne, Australia, on 2 November 1857 aboard the ship “Morning Light” as was typical for more than half a million immigrants who arrived in Victoria during the main period of the gold rush. He was following the strong pioneering tradition of his uncles, in particular his older brother, Crawford, who had immigrated to America eight years before.

In 1863 he married Martha Steele (1841-1889) and moved his family to the Gippsland area in July of that year. Samuel moved to Corowa in 1875, establishing pastoral land at the northern edge of town. In 1877, he planted his first vines, establishing a wine name that would span more than 132 years and six generations.

He became a leading member of the “Corowa Vine and Fruit Growers Association” and an acquaintance of Dr. Henry John Lindeman, an earlier pioneering vigneron of the area.

Samuel's wife, Martha, died on the 18 May 1889 at the age of 48 and left nine children, the youngest being only six years old. Within two years, Samuel retired to Sydney taking his young daughters with him and leaving the Sunnyside vineyard and winery in the hands of two of his sons, John James and Thomas and his eldest daughter, Eliza Jane.

Samuel died on the 12 June 1902 in Sydney and was buried in the “Pioneer Cemetery” in Corowa with his wife.

Family Pioneer

Born on 17 June 1868, John James (J.J.) McWilliam was the fourth child and third son of Samuel and Martha McWilliam. He married in 1892 and over the next 20 years he and his wife, Elizabeth, had a family of four boys and four girls. Together they created a dynasty that would shape Australian wine.

Following his father's departure from Corowa in 1891, the Sunnyside vineyard was left in the hands of J.J, his brother, Thomas and his sister, Eliza Jane. They won their first wine show accolade in 1897 at the National Competition for district wines.

He moved from Corowa to Junee in 1901 and took up a Colonial Wine Licence. Around the same time he established the Mark View Winery just out of town.

“At the present time Mr J. J. McWillliam's vineyard opposite the old show grounds is showing to great advantage and presents an object lesson to all interested in the land. Everything is in fine order, the vines look healthy and strong, with indications of a record yield. On every available inch of territory the genius of Mr McWilliam may be seen; he has everything marked and planned out for the future, and when all his little plans and ideas materialise, "Mark View" will be one of the finest properties in the State.” Junee Southern Cross, 20 November 1906

In 1913, John James McWilliam and his eldest son, Jack, arrived in the Riverina district and took up two farms in August that year. He carried with him 35,000 vine cuttings from Junee in September 1913 which were planted into a nursery with the first vineyard being planted out in July 1914. The newly planted cuttings were kept alive by the carting of water until the irrigation water arrived in October of that year.

The first grapes (19 tonnes) were picked in 1916 and sent to Junee, by rail, for processing. The commissioning of the McWilliam's Hanwood winery took place in February 1917 and processed 170 tonnes in that vintage.

John James McWilliam died in 1951. He was well regarded by peers throughout his career as an astute winemaker. Indeed, his tenacity and foresight can still be celebrated today in his family's award-winning winery in the flourishing region of the Riverina.

John James McWilliam's passion for the industry has been carried by subsequent generations. His four sons formed the company structure of McWilliam's Wines with Lawrence John Roy (Jack) establishing the Hanwood winery, Douglas Lyle developing the Yenda site, Keith Stewart establishing sales and bottling in Sydney while Glen Maxwell continued to build Hanwood's operations as Production Director, alongside his sons Ross, Max and Peter.

The next generation of McWilliam family members continued the McWilliam winemaking tradition with Keith, eldest son of Jack, managing Beelbangera, Stuart, second son of Jack, managing the Hanwood vineyards; Max, Glen's second son managing Robinvale's operations; Jim, son of Douglas Lyle, managing the Yenda site and Don, second son of Keith Stewart, managing Sydney operations together with his brothers Colin, Ian and Andrew.

McWilliam's Wines Chairman

Doug McWilliam commenced full-time employment at McWilliam's Wines in 1972 as a wine chemist/winemaker. He joined McWilliam's Wines Board of Directors in 1983, the same year he was appointed McWilliam's Wines Group Production Director.

Doug McWilliam is qualified in wine production, having completed a Chemistry Degree (Honours) at the Australian National University and a Master of Science (Oenology) at the University of California, Davis Campus.

During his career, Doug McWilliam has held positions on many leading industry associations, including Director and Chairman of the Council of The Australian Wine Research Institute, Director of the Co-operative Research Centre for Viticulture, President of the Riverina Winemakers Association and a Member of the Board of the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation.

He currently chairs the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre's Industry Advisory Committee and is a member of the NSW Primary Industries Minister's Wine Industry Research and Development subcommittee. He retired from his role as McWilliam's Wines Group Production Director in 2005, but has continued to maintain an active role in McWilliam's Wines as a Company Director and Chairman.

His extensive contribution to the industry was recognised when Doug was awarded the 2009 Graham Gregory Trophy by the NSW Wine Industry Assocation.

A fifth generation family member, Doug was appointed McWilliam's Wines Chairman in December 2009. He has two children, Scott and Karen, with his wife Julie and together they are grandparents to granddaughter, Saffron.

Brian McWilliam joined McWilliam's Wines in 1967 as a cellar hand at the company's winery at Beelbangera, near Griffith in New South Wales. He was appointed to the McWilliam's Wines Board of Directors in 1990.

During his distinguished career, Brian has managed both McWilliam's Wines Beelbangera (1984-1988) and McWilliam's Hanwood Estate (1988-1998) wineries.

For more than a decade (1992-2003), Brian was McWilliam's Wines Regional Director of South Australia. The role involved overseeing the company's Coonawarra vineyards and winery; sourcing fruit from the Eden Valley, Clare Valley, Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale regions and managing the company's South Australian sales office.

In April 2011, Brian retired from his position as Director of McWilliam's Wines after more than two decades on the Board.

Director - McWilliam's Wines

The second son of Glen and Alice McWilliam, Max grew up on the family vineyards on Farm 127 at Hanwood and commenced full time employment with McWilliam's Wines in 1959 immediately after completing secondary education at The Scots College in Sydney.

Initially employed as a trainee winemaker under the guidance of his father Glen, and winemaker Tony Herbert, Max experienced three vintages at McWilliam's Hanwood Winery before moving to Robinvale in 1962 to assist with the construction of the winery and to assume and hold the position of Manager and Winemaker there for the next 32 years. Max was appointed to the McWilliam's Board of Directors in 1970, and continues to serve the company in this capacity.

In 1994, Max assumed responsibility for managing McWilliam's Lillydale Estate at Seville in Victoria's Yarra Valley until he retired from full time employment in 2008.

He represented the wine industry on both the Victorian and New South Wales Wine Grape Price Industry Price Negotiation Committees from 1969 until 1999; was a member of the Steering Committee to establish the Victorian Wine Industry Association; a committee member of the Yarra Valley Winemakers Association (1998-2000); a past president of the Melbourne Beefsteak and Burgundy Club, and has served the community as a member of Rotary from 1963 at Robinvale until the present day at Wandin. He was the first person to be inducted into McWilliam's Wines Hall of Fame in 1999 and has been awarded a Paul Harris Award for his service to Rotary.

He continues to live in the Yarra Valley and enjoys fishing and the occasional game of golf when not caring for his small vineyard of Pinot Noir and farm property.

Director - McWilliam's Wines

Fourth generation family member, Andrew McWilliam was born in Sydney, the fifth son of Keith and Ruby McWilliam and youngest brother to Bob, Don, Colin and Ian.

Employed at McWilliam's Wines in 1974, Andrew worked at the winery's Pyrmont offices in the Maintenance Dept before moving to Tally Clerk, Dispatch Manager and then Transport Co-ordinator until 1981.

In 1981, Andrew was made the Import/Export Manager and New Product Development Manager within the Marketing Department. Throughout this time, he launched the McWilliam's Hillside 2ltre cask and McWilliam's Gallery Port and completed a Marketing course at the University of NSW.

In 1986, he was made the NSW Branch Manager responsible for the administration and sales of the winery's NSW Branch. Andrew was appointed National Sales Manager in 1989 before endeavouring outside the family winery to establish his own business in 1990.

He retired from his business in 2002 and was appointed to the McWilliam's Wines Board on 1 July 2010 as a Non-Executive Director.

Andrew has two sons, David and Mark, with his partner Margaret and has two gorgeous granddaughters, Ella and Claire.

Family Spokesperson

A passion for the family's wine business has shaped the 36 year career of this fifth generation McWilliam family member.

Known for his gregarious personality and booming voice, Stephen McWilliam joined the family company in 1974 where he began work as a managerial trainee.

Over his time with McWilliam's Wines, Stephen has worked in various areas including bulk wine distribution, laboratory and quality control, winemaking – covering four vintages, two of which were in New Zealand – and he managed the company's production facility at Pyrmont in the 1980s.

In the early 1990s, Stephen moved into sales and marketing where he established a sales team in northern New South Wales before relocating to Perth for seven years to set up a state distribution and sales team network which today covers the whole of Western Australia.

In 2003, Stephen returned to Sydney to take on the role of NSW State Manager before assuming his current position as McWilliam's Wines National Sales Development Manager in 2004.

Stephen has three children and currently lives in the lower Blue Mountains of Sydney, NSW.

McWilliam's Wines Senior Winemaker and Family Spokesperson

Sixth generation winemaker, Scott McWilliam was born into the Australian wine industry and it wasn't long before he started at the family wine company. In 1989, Scott was hired at the age of 14 by McWilliam's Wines to clean tanks at its Griffith wineries.

Since then, Scott has completed both a Bachelor of Science degree at the Australian National University in 1998 and Post Graduate degree, in Oenology, at the University of Adelaide in 2000. He has also quickly established himself as one of Australia's brightest and most promising young winemakers.

Scott joined the McWilliam's Wines winemaking team, initially based in the Riverina, in New South Wales, in 2000. Today, Scott is the senior winemaker at the company's super-premium Mount Pleasant winery in the Hunter Valley and family company spokesperson representing the McWilliam's brand internationally.

Throughout his career with McWilliam's Wines, Scott has been involved in developing innovative new programs to improve the safety and efficiency of winery and laboratory operations as well as developing environmental sustainability plans for the Mount Pleasant site.

Scott has continually diversified his skills by completing vintages in several regions throughout Australia and the world. His vintage and winemaking experience spans such regions as: Griffith (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004), Hunter Valley (2000, 2005 to current), and Coonawarra (2004) in Australia; Bordeaux (1994) and Beaujolais (2001), in France; and Sonoma (2002), Central Valley (2003) and Napa (2005), in the United States.

Scott has judged at many reputable international wine shows including the LA County Wine Show and the San Francisco International Wine Show. He also judges annually at Mundus Vini - Germany's largest wine competition. Scott has hosted wine seminars for the Australian Wine Bureau and represented the Hunter Valley at Wine Australia tastings held in the USA.

Taking a keen interest in the Hunter Valley, Scott is involved with industry organisations and was selected to take part in the Winemaker's Federation of Australia Future Leaders program.

Scott counts the time he spent working vintages overseas as invaluable to him as a winemaker today. Scott also gained enormous experience during his time working in the Microbiology department of the prestigious Australian Wine Research Institute, in Adelaide.

Scott lives in the Hunter Valley, in Australia, with his wife, Nora and daughter Saffron. He enjoys the outdoors, fine wine and fine food, motorbike riding and sports cars, and has travelled to more than 45 wine regions throughout the world.

McWilliam's Hanwood Cellar Supervisor

An interest in the wine industry is known to be ingrained in the McWilliam name and that certainly rings true for fifth generation McWilliam family member and Hanwood Cellar Supervisor, Tim McWilliam.

Born in Griffith to Ross and Merle McWilliam, Tim started with McWilliam's Wines in 1985 as a nineteen year old, working vintages at Beelbangera and spending the off season at Yenda.

Over the years, Tim has experienced a number of roles within the McWilliam's Wines business, working as a farm hand, trainee winemaker, cellar hand and lab assistant.

Staying close to his birth place and the centre of the family's winery operations in Griffith has always been important to Tim. Along with his son, Austin McWilliam, Tim continues to enjoy living and working in Griffith today.