In Macao, a city that’s been steadily carving out its space in the food and drink landscape, one name has become synonymous with winemaking – Eddie McDougall. The Hong Kong-born, Macao-based vintner established the Flying Winemaker back in 2011, is the founder and chairman of the Wynn Signature Chinese Wine Awards and, more recently, brought to life a long-held vision: his own premium namesake brand, E. J. McDougall.
Launched back in April, it didn’t take long until the brand quickly made waves in the wine business. Its McLaren Vale Old Vine Grenache 2023 bagged the Gold Medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) 2025 – a coveted distinction.
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With an entire production of about 10,000 bottles across three different wines made in Western Australia and South Australia – and a Tasmanian Riesling set to join the lineup next year – McDougall’s wines highlight the country’s often overlooked fine wine segment.
“The Australian wine industry has been a little hard done by. Particularly outside Australia, the wider audience still perceives its wines as the more commercial, value proposition,” he says. The wines, he adds, were created to resonate with connoisseurs of the world.
Macao News spoke with the Macao-based vintner about his new brand, the vision behind it and the Australian wine industry.
How did E. J. McDougall Wines come to life?
This is a collection of fine wines which has taken me the best part of the last twenty years to finally have the courage to release. It’s been a delicate introduction to the market because I know how the fine world market operates – very much guarded by the old world, a small collection of families and growers.
I was ready to take that risk and go head to head against the best in the world, with a brand 100 per cent backed by me, funded by me, which I hope to one day pass on to my family.
How do you manage living in Macao while overseeing your vineyards in Australia?
I travel back to Australia every month, I’m there when the critical decisions are made. I’m across everything so if there’s a problem with quality, it’s always going to rest on me.
And this is why it took 20 years to get here – building those relationships, creating trust, mutual respect for each other, and a mutually shared goal – whether it’s with my team internally, with our grapegrower partners, the people who make our labels and so on. Everything is really well thought-out. We’re chasing excellence.
How do you feel about your McLaren Vale Old Vine Grenache 2023 becoming an award-winning wine so quickly?
All our wines, prior to release, were given high scores, the most significant one is obviously the Decanter award. For the class that we’re in and for the competition set that it’s in, the Australian entries are very significant and some of the best wines in Australia are submitted to it… to have won in that level is very meaningful because the wine is tasted by the greatest tasters of the world. It’s all blind tasting too, so the wine has to stand up on its own.
We’re overwhelmed, it has happened much faster than expected.
Do you think progress has been made when it comes to elevating the perception of Australian wines in recent years?
Australia can really compete at the highest level. There’s been a lot more interest in Australian wine and I think it went through a huge shift in identity, and now it’s coming to terms that the commercial, high volume side of the business is a race to the bottom. Wine is and should be treated like a luxury item. I’m not saying wine should be expensive and pretentious, but it should still be aspirational.
The identity shift is now happening, we’re now celebrating old vineyards, when it never used to be that important in Australia to celebrate them. The old vineyards that we work with, our grenache and shiraz, go back to 1939.
You have a diverse background, having been born in Hong Kong and raised in Australia. Has your multicultural experience influenced your approach to winemaking?
It definitely has. The cross cultural experiences, world travel, a Eurasian mindset, have given me the exposure to formulate my opinions and views, knowledge of flavours and descriptors. I know exactly what I want and how it tastes.
Wine is a big part of the gastronomic experience, and I often think of myself as a gastronomic hunter. But I’m classically inspired by everything we do and that classical inspiration is what’s brought the most longevity. It’s what people always come back to.
Your Grenache has been described as ‘weightlessly intense’ with deep flavours. How did you achieve this profile?
Without the age of the vines, the sandy soils of the vineyards, and the region’s seasonal consistencies it’s very hard to achieve that. To create that weightlessly intense component, we prefer not to use new oak, we use a larger format of oak which means the flavours that are imparted are not so smokey.
We prefer to have a more honest, more transparent wine, where it’s really about the grape source. It’s also very important to preserve the perfume. The intensity is really about the perfume and aroma, and the weightlessness is about the palate.
And how would you enjoy it?
I love it on its own. I could just not drink it and smell it, I could smell it for days! [laughs] I love how pure and seductive the aromas are. It stands up to a lot of delicate flavoured foods but also complex flavoured foods.
It’s always one of the great questions and, with wine, I think the best pairing is people, who you get to share it with.
How do you see your experience as a winemaker benefiting the development of the wine industry in Macao?
Macao has given me a lot, it’s given me a home. Celebrating Macao’s desire to be a world gastronomic city and to continue to champion that if I can give my piece in the wine space and even the other sort of spirits space – I think it’s a meaningful contribution because food and drink go hand in hand.
It’s very much part of my expertise, my passion and my vision and I have a lot to give.
How do you think the global wine glut affects the Australian wine industry, and what can producers adapt?
The glut was only created because we had a huge boom. Once the excess that we’ve produced has been sold through, I feel like the industry will start normalising. The element to counter this is premiumisation, to focus more on quality. The industry needs to be better at showcasing wine as something that’s going to add value to your life too, give you more experiences.
What are your long-term goals for this brand?
Just to remain true to the core values and maintain the relationships we’ve built. Brands can come and go, but the relationships are the ones that we’ve invested a lot in. To keep that long term.
