$9.99 at Crush Wine & Spirits in Bryant, Arkansas (AR)
100% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged in French oak for nine months.
Fruit driven with blackberry, red currant, and plum with hints of brown spice, mint, liquorice, and chocolate. Full bodied with soft tannins.
The McWilliam family is one of the first families of Australian wine. With six generations of winemakers, the McWilliams history reaches back to the dawn of the Australian wine industry. The family has been a leader in bringing Australian wines to international recognition.
Founder Samuel McWilliam moved to Australia from Northern Ireland in 1830 and first planted vines (Sunnyside Vineyard) on the banks of the Murray River near Corowa in New South Wales in 1877. By 1891, he had built the foundation of a winery that would continue for over 140 years. He left the business to his three children, John James (J.J.), Thomas, and Eliza Jane.
J.J. McWilliam took the family business to the next level. While Eliza Jane (considered as Australia’s first woman winemaker) purchased Sunnyside Vineyard, in 1913 J.J. moved to the Riverina and brought with him 50,000 vines which was the beginning of the wine industry in the region. The first grapes were picked in 1916. A year later, J.J. opened the Hanwood Estate winery. By 1935, McWilliam wines were exported internationally. By the 1940s, the winery was attracting the top Australian winemakers to join its operation.
J.J.’s son, Jack, continued to move the winery forward. In the 1960s, he released their first varietal table wines. In the 1970s, with the help of his brother, Glen, he built the Cellar Door at Hanwood Estate, which is the shape of a wine barrel and remains on the site today. The next generation was headed by Jim Brayne who the family appointed as chief winemaker in 1986 and he continued the winery’s growth. By 2004, McWilliam was selling 500,000 cases per year. In 2010, Wine & Spirits magazine named McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate as the number one Australian wine brand in restaurants across the U.S.A.
Today the winery is run by Jeff McWilliam, fifth generation. He has maintained the prestige of the winery with the help of Scott McWilliam, sixth generation, and Jim Chatto and Russell Cody, two of Australia’s most well-known winemakers.
