The SHW Team - Symphony Hill Wines

Our Team Members

Marty Brown

Marty and Abraham In Cellar Door

Cellar door manager Marty Brown with senior winemaker Abraham de Klerk

Anyone who has had the pleasure to visit our cellar door will fondly remember Marty. Since 2017 she has been the face of Symphony Hill to so many people visiting us while on the Granite Belt. Always welcoming and smiling, she is definitely a one off. She has the wonderful skill of making people enjoy their experience as well as being extremely knowledgeable on the whole winemaking process from vineyard to bottle. Marty is passionate about wine and recently completed her WSET level 1 training. The Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) provides globally recognised education and qualifications in wines.

It is a testament to her fabulousness that we frequently receive emails from people thanking her for treating them so well during their visit. When she is not serving customers, she assists Ewen with numerous activities including the logistics of wine deliveries to restaurants and wine club members.

Ash Smith

Ash Smith preparing bottling line for our 2019 Reserve Verdelho

Assistant Winemaker

Ash joined our team in 2018 just in time to prepare for 2019 vintage. Local winemaker extraordinaire Mark Ravenscroft supervised the vintage with Ewen, Ash and Daniel his hard working minions. Mark was an excellent teacher and we will always be grateful to him for sharing his expertise with us to create outstanding 2019 wines while waiting for senior winemaker Abraham de Klerk to arrive in May 2019 to take up the reins.

Ash has completed a Bachelor of Business at University of Southern QLD majoring in wine science. He was awarded the faculty medal upon graduation. He is chief steward at the fabulous Australian Small Winemakers Show held annually in Stanthorpe.

James Macpherson

James Macpherson helping at Thailand Orphanage

James is the son of owners Ewen and Elissa Macpherson and works in the cellar door on weekends. Visitors continually praise his excellence in service as he is always serving with a smile and a laugh. He recently completed his WSET level 1 with 100% pass mark – pressure is now on WSET level 2! The Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) provides globally recognised education and qualifications in wines.

James is a beautiful fresh faced young man and visitors always ask whether he is old enough to drink yet. He is actually 23 having graduated in 2018 with a degree in creative writing from QUT. He has a caring heart and loves that Symphony Hill raises money for orphanages in Asia through the sale of our Danying Cabernet Sauvignon. The picture above is from when he volunteered in a Thai orphanage recently. And the picture below is when he was helping in our newly planted Shiraz block in 1999 (sorry James 🙂 )