HUNTER VALLEY LEGENDS

Doctor Max Lake - Surgeon, winemaker, writer and bon vivant.  Doctor Max Lake was a truly amazing individual - Australia’s first specialist hand surgeon, and later a true giant of the Australian Wine Industry.  Max established Australia’s first boutique winery, Lakes Folly, in the Hunter Valley, on his ‘weekends off’. Widely regarded as the ‘father of the Australian Boutique Wine Industry’, in 1988 The Bulletin Magazine referred to Max as “the man who started the Australian wine boom”.

Born in 1924 to an American mother and Australian father, Max was brought up in a cosmopolitan Sydney household – his father running the Australian division of movie studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer.  At the tender age of 16, Max commenced his medical studies at The University of Sydney, and published his first paper, on the hypothalamus, when he was 18.  University was also where he met his wife-to-be, Joy Townsend, who was also studying medicine.  After graduating, he furthered his studies at the Royal College of Surgeons in England in the early 1950s, finishing top in his year.  Max Lake went on to have a 40-year career in medicine.

In his spare time, and in addition to lecturing, judging wine and beef among other things, Max wrote books - some twenty in total (self-publishing 14 of them) mostly on wine, food and surgery. Publications that included ‘Classic Wines of Australia’, ‘Vine and Scalpel’, ‘Scents and Sensuality’ and ‘Hunter Wine’, to name just a few.

But it was the establishment of a little winery in 1963 in Pokolbin, in the Hunter Valley, that possibly is regarded as his finest achievement.  In an era when fine wine production was scarcely considered, Max’s vision to create a boutique winery specialising in producing only two wines – those two being lesser-known varieties for the region, of Cabernet and Chardonnay – was regarded at that time, as a ‘folly’.  However, the cult following that was to ensue was beyond Max’s expectations and Lake’s Folly still enjoys the same loyal following to this day, with its red rated as the ‘Most Collected Cabernet’ in Australia and the white the second ‘Most Collected’ Chardonnay in Australia.

In 2002, Max was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), for “service to the establishment of the boutique wine industry in Australia as a winemaker, judge, promoter and author”. 

Max Lake passed away, aged 84, on the 14^th of April 2009.

Not just a legend by Hunter Valley standards, Max was an icon of the Australian Wine Industry;  a trailblazer and pioneer, the likes of which may not be seen again.  But his legacy remains, and will continue into the future through Lake’s Folly.

Max Lake was inducted as a Legend in 2007. 

HUNTER VALLEY LEGEND

Max Drayton is a fourth generation vigneron.  The Drayton family have been in the Hunter Valley for over 160 years so are truly pioneers of the Hunter.  Max was born and raised in Pokolbin and has worked in the family business since he left school in 1946.  In 1989, Max with three of his four sons, John, Trevor and Greg took over the family company of W. Drayton & Sons.

Max was honoured at the inaugural Hunter Valley Legends dinner in 2007. He has also received other awards – 2001 Centenary Medal, 2003 Order of Australia Medal, both medals for service to the wine industry and local community.  In 1997, at a family dinner also received recognition from the Hunter Valley Vineyard Association for 50 years’ service to the wine industry.  A plague was also received from the Australian Wine Industry.

Max Drayton’s advice ‘be prepared to admit when you are wrong, respect your elders, and it is important to have the support of your wife’.

Max Drayton was inducted as a Legend in 2007.

HUNTER VALLEY LEGENDS

Percival McGuigan, or Perc as he is best known, developed an interest in wine as a child through sometimes working with his father Owen, who worked in a vineyard at Rothbury. Though originally planning to become a school teacher, McGuigan worked first at Branxton Butter Factory and then at Hexham whilst studying dairy chemistry. Penfolds had bought the Dalwood Estate (originally established by the Wyndhams), and he became their vineyard manager for nearly thirty years, starting in 1941. He then bought the Estate from Penfolds in 1968 at auction, renaming it Wyndham Estate in honour of its original owners, and replanting to its original configuration – although it was sold fairly soon afterwards. McGuigan was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia Award (AM) in 2003, for service to the development of the Hunter Valley Wine Industry and to the community.

‘I feel privileged to have been associated with the great advances that have developed in the wine industry, particularly during the period from the late 1950s to the turn of the century. This was the time when people’s palates changed noticeably from the heavier fortified and semi-sweet wines to the lighter, flavoursome dry table wines. This, I believe, can be attributed to two important factors.

1)      The unprecedented decision by a few winemakers and their staff to give the public the opportunity to taste a full range of wines at the cellar door, and at organised social evenings. This has been very successful because people make their choices guided by the person behind the bar and their own palates.

2)      The increase in our overall population, particularly due to the European migrants, a big percentage of whom were very knowledgeable about light wines in their own lands; their acceptance of the quality of our Australian product was almost immediate and it has continued to be very supportive’.

The Hunter Valley vineyards have been through a difficult time over the past year but we would hope that there are brighter times ahead.

Perc McGuigian was inducted as a Legend in 2007.

HUNTER VALLEY LEGEND

Karl Stockhausen arrived in Australia a post-war German immigrant and began work at Lindeman’s, first as a labourer in Pokolbin, and then as clerk/accountant in their Sydney office. He became the manager/winemaker of Ben Ean, and was able to learn winemaking from his mentor, Lindeman’s Ray Kidd. He was obviously a very good student, as he became one of our most awarded Australian winemakers, also shown in the results of his consultancy work.

Stockhausen: ‘I am sure I have learnt many things over the years in the wine industry. Most of them are given little, if any, recognition and are just taken for granted. Something I have recognised, rather than learnt is the camaraderie that has always existed in the wine industry; the willingness to help others in spite of a healthy rivalry and competitiveness within the industry. A quite recent indication of this was given by the help offered to the Drayton Family by so many wine industry people following the tragic accident at their winery.

At the time of my starting at Lindeman’s’ Ben Ean, I frequently asked people such as the late Len Drayton for advice which was readily given. A little later, I would offer help if I could. I recall a late night call from an Upper Hunter winery in the 1960s, the air bag of their only press had been cut while grapes were waiting to be pressed. We had a spare bag which solved their problem. On the lighter side, I remember Max Lake calling me just before one vintage – he had bought a new press but didn’t know how to use it, because the instructions were in German – could I help? Of course I could.”

Karl Stockhausen was inducted as a Legend in 2007.