McWilliams Mount Pleasant has a long and proud history in the Hunter Valley with some of the earliest vines planted in the region.
The property was first used for viticulture by English immigrant Charles King whom settled there in 1880, when he planted the Old Hill vineyard.
In 1921 legendary winemaker Maurice O' Shea, after which the top Mount Pleasant Shiraz is named, bought the property from King and extended it before naming his vineyards Mount Pleasant. Mount Pleasant was acquired in full by the Griffith-based McWilliams family in 1941, but O' Shea was kept on as Chief Winemaker.
The story of O’Shea is particularly memorable as he managed to craft supreme expressions of Hunter Valley red wines without modern winemaking tools, and in what was at the time a largely unheralded region. Some of his vintages from the 1940’s and 1950’s are still drinking well to this day. O’Shea was also responsible for planting two great additional sites, those being the Lovedale Semillon vineyard on sandy soils at the base of Lovedale Road and the Rosehill Vineyard on Volcanic soils on the Broke Road.
Mount Pleasant primarily specializes in two varietals – those being Semillon and Shiraz. For the Semillons, the Lovedale is their finest expression, and one of the best and most long lived in the Hunter Valley. Beneath that are the Phil Ryan Signature and old favourite Elizabeth. For Shiraz, the Maurice O’Shea resides at the top of the quality tree below which are the single vineyard Old Paddock and Old Hill, Rosehill Shiraz with the Phillip always well priced and usually sourced solely from the Hunter Valley.
