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McPherson Wines

A family-owned Victorian winery since 1968, McPherson Wines pairs Central Victorian fruit with Jo Nash’s small-batch cellar work.

The producer

McPherson Wines is based in Nagambie Lakes, Victoria, yet its bottles draw on hand-selected grapes from across Central Victoria and a network of growers and makers. Founded in 1968, the independent family-owned winery lists Jo Nash as winemaker and 262 hectares of vineyards. That wider sourcing lets individual labels carry their own regional detail rather than forcing every wine into a single-estate story.

Shiraz is the clearest red thread, especially Don’t Tell Gary. Its documented releases connect Shiraz to the Grampians or, in the Swedish-market bottle, the Strathbogie Ranges. A year in French oak brings dark fruit, spice, body and tannin into the glass, while Chardonnay offers a fresher counterpoint in the wider range.

Known for

Central Victorian, small-batch wines, led by regional Shiraz and the French-oak-aged Don’t Tell Gary.

Notable facts

The story

Why Gary Was Not Told

In 2014, winemaker Jo Nash secured an exceptional Shiraz parcel from the Grampians and put it into costly French oak for a year before the company’s accountants knew about it. She had kept a particular fruit parcel apart and committed it to barrel rather than folding it into a routine red blend. Gary was the accountant whose approval had not been sought before the oak was bought and the wine was laid down. When the Shiraz was bottled, its name became Don’t Tell Gary. McPherson describes the wine as made by a winemaker rather than an accountant.

From the atlas

McPherson Wines

At A Glance

The Producer

McPherson Wines is an independent, family-owned winery established in 1968, with its listed home in Nagambie Lakes, Victoria. Australian Wine Companion records Jo Nash as winemaker, Alistair Purbrick of Tahbilk as co-owner, and 262 hectares of vineyards. The bottle story is broader than a single estate: McPherson hand-selects Central Victorian grapes and works with growers and makers, so a label can carry the McPherson name while bringing a particular regional parcel into focus.

That structure is most vivid in Don't Tell Gary Shiraz. Nash’s winemaking links a named Shiraz parcel, French-oak maturation and a wine whose title comes from a real cellar decision. It is a useful starting point for a producer whose range moves between a Nagambie Lakes base, regional sourcing and individual bottlings with their own origins.

Place

Nagambie Lakes is McPherson’s listed Victorian address, while Central Victoria supplies the wider frame for its grape selection. The range therefore does not ask one place to speak for every bottle. Grampians Shiraz appears on independently documented Don't Tell Gary releases, while the Swedish-market Don't Tell Gary is listed from the Strathbogie Ranges; those regional names belong to their respective bottlings rather than to one interchangeable house site.

For Shiraz, that distinction matters on the label and in the glass. A bottle named for the Grampians or Strathbogie Ranges carries a more specific origin than a broad Central Victorian sourcing statement, while McPherson’s grower network lets the winery make wine from fruit beyond its Nagambie Lakes home.

Soil And Site

McPherson’s documented site detail is regional rather than geological: Nagambie Lakes, Central Victoria, the Grampians and the Strathbogie Ranges are named, but no verified soil profile is supplied for the range. The useful physical fact is the movement of fruit between those places. Rather than claiming one ground type behind every wine, McPherson separates its bottles through grape and stated origin, with Shiraz carrying the clearest site reference.

A named regional Shiraz also narrows the cellar conversation. The 2022 Don't Tell Gary is identified as Grampians Shiraz, while the Swedish-market version is tied to the Strathbogie Ranges. French oak can shape both fruit and tannin, but the regional name remains attached to the individual release in front of you.

Story

McPherson’s long-running family ownership began in 1968; Jo Nash took charge of winemaking in 2011 after working at McPherson from college onward. Her role turns the winery’s broad sourcing model into a set of particular decisions: hand-selected fruit, small-batch production and named wines that can carry a place or parcel farther than a general regional blend.

The strongest decision became a Shiraz with an accountant in its title. In 2014, Nash found a parcel worth holding back and gave it a year in costly French oak. That choice did not create an abstract house style; it created Don't Tell Gary, a bottle whose ripe Shiraz fruit, oak handling and name all begin with the same event.

Vineyards And Cellar

McPherson works with a network of growers and makers, alongside its recorded vineyard holdings, so vineyard work begins with selecting fruit across Central Victoria rather than presenting every wine as a one-vineyard estate bottling. Hand selection and small-batch winemaking give the cellar smaller lots to handle separately, allowing a regional Shiraz parcel to remain a named bottle instead of disappearing into a larger blend.

For Don't Tell Gary, the documented cellar choice is concrete: Shiraz was matured in French oak for a year, with minimal intervention described in its making. Oak contributes spice, toast and a rounder texture when it meets Shiraz fruit; time in barrel also lets tannin settle into the wine’s body. The result is a red built for flavour and grip rather than a neutral expression of grape alone.

Wines

Shiraz is the range’s clearest red thread. Don't Tell Gary is the site-specific, oak-aged expression: a Shiraz linked to the Grampians on the 2022 release and to the Strathbogie Ranges on the Swedish-market bottle. Its French-oak year places dark fruit, spice, body and tannin at the centre of the wine’s architecture, while the named origin keeps the label more specific than a general South Eastern Australian red.

McPherson also has Chardonnay and Shiraz wines in the Swedish market under the main McPherson name. The Chardonnay supplies a white-wine counterpoint to the red range, while the separate Shiraz offers another route into the grape without borrowing Don't Tell Gary’s Grampians or Strathbogie Ranges claim. Together, those bottles show a producer working across grape, region and style rather than repeating one cuvée under several labels.

In The Glass

Don't Tell Gary Shiraz begins with the familiar dark-fruit and spice register associated with Shiraz, while French oak adds savoury wood spice and a fuller texture. On the palate, fruit weight meets tannin rather than being smoothed away; the year in barrel is the reason oak belongs in the description. The finish should carry spice and grip, making this a red for food as readily as for a first glass.

The Chardonnay changes the sequence. Chardonnay moves the range toward citrus and orchard-fruit territory, with acidity and texture taking the structural role that tannin plays in Shiraz. That contrast is useful at the table: the white’s fresher shape and the red’s oak-framed body show how McPherson’s regional sourcing can lead to different kinds of wine without abandoning a clear, practical style.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Don't Tell Gary Shiraz, choosing the current release and reading its stated region on the label. It is Shiraz with a documented parcel story, a year in French oak and a direct connection to Jo Nash’s cellar work. Expect dark fruit, spice, medium-to-full body, oak-derived texture and tannin through the finish. The bottle brings together McPherson’s regional fruit selection, small-batch approach and one unusually candid name.

Anecdote

In 2014, Jo Nash secured an exceptional Shiraz parcel from the Grampians and put it into costly French oak for a year before the company’s accountants knew about it. The project involved money, barrel time and a fruit parcel she wanted to hold apart, not a routine red blend. Gary was the accountant whose approval had not been sought before the oak was bought and the wine was laid down. When the Shiraz was bottled, the name became Don’t Tell Gary. McPherson still describes the wine as made by a winemaker rather than an accountant.

Final Word

McPherson Wines is most useful when its labels are read bottle by bottle: Nagambie Lakes names the winery’s home, Central Victoria describes the sourcing frame, and Don't Tell Gary turns a regional Shiraz parcel and French oak into a red with dark fruit, spice, texture and a story attached to the cork.

Sources

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