Jack Mann (winemaker)

Jack Mann MBE (19 March 1906 – 1989) was a winemaker in Western Australia and devised Houghton White Burgundy, a wine that became the flagship of the Western Australian wine industry. He was chief winemaker at Houghton Winery in the Swan Valley, from 1930 to 1974 and is considered one of the pioneers of the Western Australian wine industry.

Mann was born in Perth. His father George was a well-known brandy maker from Chateau Tanunda winery in South Australia's Barossa Valley and his mother was a member of the Sobels winemaking family.

Mann started work at Houghton's with his father George in 1922. He succeeded his father as chief winemaker eight years later. In the 1930s his oloroso won the first of 13 successive Australian Champion awards. In 1932 Mann introduced a butcher's mincing machine which fragmented grape skins, but not the seeds, after the stalks had been separated from the bunches. In 1936 he acquired a Seitz germ proof filter, the first to be imported into Australia, which allowed sterile filtration. The next year Chenin blanc won first prize at the Melbourne Wine Show, and Houghton White Burgundy was born. During his career he won many awards for claret, burgundy, tawny port, vintage port, liqueur frontignac and liqueur hermitage. He was awarded an MBE in 1964 for services to the viticulture industry and The West Australian newspaper included him in their list of Western Australia's 100 most influential people in 2006.

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