Now a sixth generation winemaker for McWilliam’s, Scott remembers very well the time he spent mopping out all the lees and bits left behind from the tank fermenters. As the only one small enough to do the job, it was an interesting initiation into the world of winemaking. Scott clarifies that his parents never pushed him into the family business but following time spent overseas with a wine family in Bordeaux and after completing Science and Oenology degrees, Scott arrived at the family winery in Griffith to commence his winemaking career.

Today, Scott is Senior Winemaker at McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant winery in the Hunter Valley and he’s proud to carry the family legacy of winemaking that first began in 1877. When he thinks about the voyage McWilliam’s founder, Samuel McWilliam took from Northern Ireland to Australia, mopping up a tank doesn’t seem like a bad start to winemaking at all.