THE AUSTRALIAN ARK – Federation to the Modern Era | 1900–1982
1937 HOUGHTON BLUE STRIPE WHITE BURGUNDY Swan Valley, Western Australia
Jack Mann (1906–1989) is regarded as one of Western Australia’s great figures of the 20th century. In 1930, Jack Mann succeeded his father, George, a former brandy maker from Château Tanunda in the Barossa Valley, and began an extraordinary career of 51 vintages. In 1937, he entered a ‘big, full flavoured white wine from chenin blanc. It won first prize at the Melbourne Wine Show. One judge, W.W. Senior likened it to the great white burgundies of France and so Houghton’s White Burgundy was born.’ According to Dorham Mann, his father, Jack Mann, believed that the grapes were semillon. This wine was an extraordinary success story and was considered one of Australia’s great white wines until the early 1980s when the market changed gear with the advent of a strong emerging boutique wine scene. The style was described as ‘truly white burgundy. Powerful honey and spice bouquet, full golden colour with an occasional tinge of green, soft rich flavour, it is a unique white wine in Australia.’ It was also produced using sterile filtration, still relatively new technology at the time.
Jack Mann in 1930s.
194
Powered by FlippingBook