Fifty years ago I took a very attractive young woman to a wine tasting run by McWilliam’s. 

This was a label that could be trusted, we were told, with its Irish immigrant founder arriving in Australia in 1857 and planting his vineyard, named Sunnyside, in 1877. 

Production and quality wines had been rolled out by the family ever since, including exports to NZ, and wines made in the Hawkes Bay. 

The wine tasting was great with my date enthusiastically tasting and enjoying the evening. She really enjoyed the fortifieds. It’s an especially memorable event because on the bendy roads from Mission Bay to where she lived in Kohimarama, she became violently ill, throwing up inter alia (I was a law student at the time) on my lap. Her parents forbade her from seeing me again, blaming me for her “state.” Enough of my history.

McWilliam’s had its own bout of illness in 2020 when it got into financial difficulties. After some speculation about the future of this icon, the Calabria Family Wine Group bought the label in 2021. 

I recently came across a wine that links the new look McWilliam’s with Canberra: the McWilliam’s Single Vineyard Shiraz 2021, which is complex, well made with a good tannic backbone. It finished well with a lovely pepper undertone. It seems that the McWilliam’s label lives on and is still producing memorable wines.

I contacted Calabria Wines to find out more about why the Canberra District grapes had been chosen. I spoke with Elizabeth Calabria, head of marketing who handballed an explanation of the Canberra connection to Scott McWilliam, one of two family members who continue to work for the winery.

“Few people know that my family has strong grassroots in Canberra,” he said. “And McWilliam’s Wines has recently released our flagship wine, called Eliza Jane, a Canberra District shiraz of the highest pedigree. 

“When I say my family, I refer to my immediate family, going back to my great grandfather Douglas Lyle McWilliam or DL as he was referred to. DL was the second oldest of JJ McWilliam’s four sons. DL was responsible for building one of the McWilliam’s wineries within the Riverina, the Yenda Winery, about 10 minutes drive from Griffith. It was built in the 1920s, one of three McWilliams’ wineries in the Riverina at the time. 

“DL was just as pioneering as his father, and in the late 1940s he was able to recognise the potential of Canberra as a city, and proceeded to buy land just outside the city limits, to the east of Googong dam, Canberra’s main water supply. 

“I remember being told a story that DL had intentions of planting one big long row of grape vines, from the valley floor, all the way up the hillside to ascertain any elevations that could be conducive for viticulture exploits. 

“It was soon established that the land was not suitable for growing grapes however, a big frost zone, which is a no-no for fragile grapevines, plus there were concerns about water availability in dryer years, so instead the property was used for sheep and cattle, as it is currently today. 

“The next family link to Canberra is my mother, who went to boarding school at Canberra Grammar Girls School, soon after attending the Australian National University, where she subsequently met my father, who is the next family link to Canberra. 

“My parents spent several years there, dad studied chemistry, a precursor to his oenology (winemaking) degree. The next link skips back a generation to my grandfather Jim McWilliam, DL’s only child, when he and my grandmother Elva, relocated to Canberra and took up residence at the family farm. 

They lived there for many years, and that’s where I come into the equation. Around about the same time DL passed away, I was offered two boarding school options for my final years of high school, Scots College in Sydney or Canberra Grammar School, I chose the latter; I wanted to be near my grandparents. I was to become a Canberran at the age of 14. I, too, went on to ANU and studied chemistry, just like dad, following my parents’ lead.

“I grew up rather unaware of the potential of Canberra as a viticultural region, but I do remember hearing the story of Dr Edgar Riek OAM, who founded the Lake George Winery in 1971.

“Whilst at university I started working in high-end wine stores around Canberra, to earn some rent money – Lloyd’s Liquor in Kingston and Kippax Cellars, to name a few – but it was my time at Dickson Liquor that started my affection for the Canberra wines, since they had a very comprehensive local wine section. 

“Names like Pankhurst Wines, Brindabella Hills, Helm Wines and, of course, the aforementioned Lake George wines. It was during this time that I spent several weekends travelling to Murrumbateman, visiting the many very small producers, and tasting their wines.

“Many years later the McWilliam’s Winemakers started to turn their attention to Canberra District, mostly due to its success in the neighbouring Hilltops and Tumbarumba regions. 

“The winemaking team took fruit from three established Canberra District vineyards, McKellar Ridge and Four Winds in 2013, and Quarry Hill Vineyards in 2015. 

“At that time the winemaking team were fortunate enough to have some technical guidance from Tim Kirk, founder of Clonakilla, in fact he came to the McWilliam’s Hanwood winery and took the team through a great lineup of Canberra wines for style direction. 

“I recently visited the Clonakilla cellar door, and to my surprise the guys there started bringing out bottles of McWilliam’s Wines they had stashed away in their cellars, and we conducted a McWilliam’s vs Clonakilla taste-off, what a treat indeed. 

“This brings me to the last link in the long McWilliam’s Canberra history, our new flagship wine called Eliza Jane. I remember in the tasting room at the Hanwood winery the winemaking team were deliberating between a few different blend options for the new super premium wine. 

“In the end it was unanimously decided the 2018 Quarry Hill parcel of shiraz was going to make this wine, McWilliam’s most expensive red wine, a Canberra wine.”

“If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree.” –Michael Crichton