The Mount Pleasant Winery sits in the McWilliams portfolio, one of Australia’s most renowned wine families and the family have enthusiastically embraced the concept of making single vineyard wines to demonstrate the diversity of which Australia is capable.

In 1880, English immigrant Charles King planted vines on rich, volcanic soil in the Parish of Pokolbin, at the southern end of the Hunter Valley. In 1921, legendary winemaker Maurice O’Shea purchased and extended the 16.3ha property and named it Mount Pleasant, after the peak that rises behind the winery.

The winery is today one of the most awarded in Australia having won an incredible 6 Championships, 154 trophies, 682 gold, 818 silver and 1731 bronze medals since the late 1960s. When the McWilliam family acquired ownership of Mount Pleasasnt in 1941, Maurice O’Shea was retained as Chief Winemaker and went on to make some of Australia’s most highly regarded wines. O’Shea’s groundbreaking work has been kept alive by revered winemakers Brian Walsh (1956-1978) and Phil Ryan (1978-current).

The fact that there have been just three Chief Winemakers at Mount Pleasant since 1921 has ensured consistency of wine style and quality. As was O’Shea’s tradition, Mount Pleasant winemakers continue to bottle age commercial quantities of wines until they are considered at their peak.