Houghton Wines is an
Australian wine
The Australian wine industry is one of the world's largest exporters of wine, with approximately 800 million out of the 1.2 to 1.3 billion litres produced annually exported to overseas markets. The wine industry is a significant contributor ...
ry originating in the
Swan Valley wine region of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
at the historic Houghton Estate.
A subsidiary of
Accolade Wines
Accolade Wines is an international wine business with headquarters in South Australia and corporate offices in Melbourne. It has been owned by The Carlyle Group, an American private equity company, since 2018.
Accolade, which predominantly uses ...
, the company operates four of Western Australia's largest vineyards at Moondah Brook (145 hectares),
Pemberton (92 hectares),
Mount Barker (74 hectares) and Frankland River (89 hectares), and sources fruit from
Margaret River
The Margaret River is a river in southwest Western Australia. In a small catchment, it is the eponym of the town and tourist region of Margaret River.
The river arises from a catchment of just 40 square kilometres in the Whicher Range.
The ...
,
Harvey
Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit
* Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...
and the Ferguson Valley. Expansion into the Western Australian South West and the
Great Southern wine region
The Great Southern wine region is in Western Australia's Great Southern region. It comprises an area from east to west and over from north to south, and is Australia's largest wine region.
It has five nominated subregions for wine, the Po ...
led to the establishment of a winery, located at
Nannup in the Blackwood Valley. In 2019 Houghton divested itself of its wine producing facilities and vineyards in the Swan Valley, with the Swan Valley location now known as Nikola Estate.
The Houghton portfolio includes the brands of Houghton Line Range, Houghton Crofters, Moondah Brook, Houghton Regional Range, Houghton Gladstone and Jack Mann.
History
![Houghtons Winery Grounds SMC](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Houghtons_Winery_Grounds_SMC.jpg)
The land of which Houghton was part (Swan Location II) was originally assigned by
Governor James Stirling to
Rivett Henry Bland
Rivett (or Revett) Henry Bland (2 February 1811 – 18 February 1894) was an early settler and a government administrator in colonial Australia.
Bland was the son of Thomas Bland and Emma Revett,Daniele, L, Australian Dictionary of Biography a ...
in 1829. In 1836, a syndicate of three British Army Officers, Houghton, Lowie and Yule (who had been serving together in India) purchased the northern half of Swan location II. The syndicate named the property Houghton after the senior ranking officer of their group, Lieutenant Colonel Richmond Houghton.
Houghton himself did not come to Western Australia and for the next 23 years the property was managed and developed by one of the members of the syndicate, Thomas Newte Yule.
In 1859, Dr John Ferguson purchased the Houghton property for the sum of 350 pounds and in that same year produced the first commercial vintage of wine from the vineyard a total of .
Moondyne Joe
Joseph Johns ( February 1826 – 13 August 1900), better known as Moondyne Joe, was an English convict and Western Australia's best-known bushranger. Born into poor and relatively difficult circumstances, he became something of a petty criminal ...
,
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
's most famous
bushranger
Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...
, was captured on the Houghton property in the act of stealing wine from the cellars on 25 February 1869. By chance, the owner, Charles William Ferguson had been helping with a police search, and afterwards invited a group of police back to the vineyard for refreshments. When Ferguson entered the cellar, Joe assumed that he was discovered, and made a dash for the door into the arms of the police.
In 1950, Valencia Vineyards, a subsidiary of the Emu Wine Company of
Morphett Vale, South Australia
Morphett Vale is a southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Onkaparinga. It is the largest suburb in the state, with a population of more than 23,000 and an area of 12.76 km2, followed by Paralowie with nearly 10,000 fe ...
, purchased the Houghton vineyards, winery and distillery from the Ferguson family.
[ In April 1976, the South Australian winemaking Hardy family acquired the stock of the Emu Wine Company and with that purchase, became owners of Houghton.
]
Jack Mann and Houghton White Burgundy
Jack Mann (1906–1989) was considered a pioneer of Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
's wine industry. and served a total of 51 consecutive vintages at Houghton. His awards included being awarded an MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
in 1964. ''The West Australian
''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...
'' newspaper included him in their list of Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
's 100 most influential people.
One of Mann's most significant accomplishments was the creation of the Houghton White Burgundy in 1937, a full bodied chenin blanc wine. The Houghton White Burgundy was so named because the judges and winemakers at the 1937 Melbourne Wine Show likened it to the style of wines from Burgundy, France. The Houghton White Burgundy has become one of Australia's most popular white wines, in some years in the 1980’s & 1990’s it was in fact the largest selling wine in Australia, and known for being on almost every wine list. During this period it was known over half the grapes crushed in Western Australia went into Houghton White Burgundy. One feature of this era was the Houghton Show White Burgundy, just over 500 cases were selected by the winemakers from each vintage, aged for 5 years, it won countless Trophies and Gold medals, and was released with a special label for about 3 times the price of the 1 year old regular wine. Houghton White Burgundy was renamed Houghton White Classic in 2005 to comply with an international trade agreement between Australia and the EU (see Protected designation of origin
The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union and the United Kingdom aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main ...
).
See also
* List of wineries in Western Australia
This is a list of wineries in Western Australia, arranged in alphabetical order by name of winery.
See also
* Australian wine
* List of breweries in Australia
* List of vineyards and wineries
* Western Australian wine
References
Exte ...
* Western Australian wine
Western Australian wine refers to wine produced in Australia's largest state, Western Australia. Although the state extends across the western third of the continent, its wine regions are almost entirely situated in the cooler climate of its sou ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
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External links
Houghton official website
{{Langton's Classification of Australian Wine VI - Producers
Middle Swan, Western Australia
Wineries in Western Australia
Australian companies established in 1836
Food and drink companies established in 1836