Howard Park chief winemaker, Janice McDonald, has taken out Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine’s Winemaker of the Year award for 2018.
The win is also one for WA – Ms McDonald was the only West Australian nominated, the first WA finalist since 2015 and the first WA winner since 2012.
She said she was thrilled to win the prestigious award.
“This is the most wonderful recognition of what we’ve achieved at Howard Park,” she said.
“I feel I stand here as the representative of an enormous number of people who have such an important part to play – from the winemakers to the grape growers to the marketers to the people that sell the wine. Really the whole group of staff.”
Ms McDonald has been chief winemaker at Howard Park since 2011, overseeing multiple wine brands across four vineyards in two of Australia’s premier wine growing regions – Margaret River and the Great Southern.
She has worked closely with Howard Park’s owners, the Burch Family, for seven years, and through her career has taken out Best Australian Sparkling Wine at the Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships last year, was nominated previously for GT’s Winemaker of the Year in 2013, and was crowned Best Winemaker in the 2010 – 2011 edition of The Big Red Wine Book by Campbell Mattinson and Gary Walsh.
The Burch family was full of praise for Ms McDonald.
“For someone with such a career, we are just so honoured to have Janice working with us and believe this award really is testament to the esteem she is held in within the industry and among her peers,” said Howard Park marketing director Amy Burch.
“It is a huge validation of the work she has done not only in her years as a winemaker, but specifically at Howard Park. From taking on two quite different wine regions, spearheading our sparkling wine program, running a team of staff around the clock during prolonged vintages – she is tireless.
“We could not be prouder, and look forward to what she has in store for us in the future.”
Originally from New South Wales, Ms McDonald has had an illustrious career in Western Australia spanning 33 years, including positions as senior winemaker at Devil’s Lair, head brewer at Matilda Bay Brewing Co and senior winemaker and co-founder of Stella Bella.
Gourmet Traveller writer and wine critic, Peter Forrestal, applauded Ms McDonald when she was first nominated for the award.
“Janice McDonald is an astounding winemaker, demanding of herself and others, rigorous, painstaking in her attention to detail,” he said.
Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine’s Winemaker of the Year Award celebrates the most talented winemakers in Australia.
