Howard Park has expanded its footprint with the purchase of Forest View Vineyard in Western Australia’s South West wine region.

The 48-hectare vineyard features six varieties, predominantly Chardonnay and also Pinot Noir, Prosecco, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.

The acquisition comes through Howard Park’s long-term partnership with the Radomiljac family, who produce Pemberley of Pemberton wines. The site will continue to be managed by David and Jordan Radomiljac and Howard Park chief winemaker Nic Bowen will help will assist the Pemberley team to further develop their own sparkling wines with fruit from their original sites.

The purchase of the 48-hectare site gives Howard Park another fruit resource for its Jeté sparkling wine range and other wines across the Burch family’s portfolio.

“The goal is to be West Australia’s premier sparkling producer and this acquisition is the next step on our journey,”
Howard Park Wines founder Jeff Burch said.

“Our chief winemaker Nic Bowen has an incredible track record of producing exceptional wines, and especially world class sparkling. This investment gives Nic and his team even more opportunity to showcase their talents and indicates how serious we are about crafting West Australia’s best sparkling wines.

“The fruit from the Forest View site, and the Pemberton region as a whole, makes an excellent sparkling base, which will be a brilliant complement and blending component for our Jeté wines. In addition, we’ll continue to showcase what the region has to offer in the sparkling wine category.”

Jordan Radomiljac said: “Our relationship with the Burch family goes way back and this further solidifies the bond between our two winemaking businesses.

“Forest View has been a terrific resource for both of our businesses and we know through this ongoing partnership, it will give Howard Park the opportunity to bring more awareness to the quality of sparkling wines coming out of the Pemberton wine region.”

As fate would have it, Bowen is no stranger to the Forest View Vineyard, with his winemaking father, Rob Bowen, the original winemaker at Pemberley and Nic’s late mother, Denise, the artist behind Pemberley’s striking art deco label.

“I originally visited Pemberley with my dad many years ago to inspect the vines,” Bowen said. “I casually mentioned that the south-facing Chardonnay D block would be brilliant for making méthode traditionnelle sparkling wines. Never in a million years did I think I’d get to do just that.

“2023 is shaping up to be a very exciting vintage for the region, and I’m looking forward to welcoming these new parcels into the winery this year.”

The private purchase agreement is now in place, with fruit from the site to arrive at Howard Park’s winemaking facilities this vintage.

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