Cathy & Neil Howard
Australia
Winemaking team with over 50 years experience looking to grow their business and engage with Angels
Cathy & Neil run their own brilliant Geographe vineyard in Western Australia. This is where the Boots & All magic happens, turning out hand-crafted wines full of TLC and flavour. What’s more their winery earned a 5-star rating and was awarded one of ten Dark Horse wineries by James Halliday in 2015.
With a combined 55 years of experience working with some of the BIGGEST and BEST in the game, we didn’t hesitate welcoming this wonder couple in to the Naked community. Cathy honed her winemaking craft at the likes of St Hallett in the Barossa, and Neil’s vigneron experience has come from the likes of the mighty Sandalford in Margaret River.
It's been a long road to taking the leap and managing their own patch of perfect soil - a dream for any passionate winemaker. Now, with Angel backing, Cathy & Neil have the ability to craft small batch, single vineyard wines which are full of varietal flavour from grapes grown in ancient soils. This is the kind of freedom that turns wine into something truly personal, unique and undeniably delicious.
Vineyard Location
Cathy & Neil Howard's Story
Meet Cathy and Neil Howard
After calling us out of the blue, this couple’s exclusive, liberated, single-vineyard agreement was signed, sealed and delivered in record time. With a combined 55 years of experience with some of the BIGGEST and BEST in the game, why wouldn’t we!
Cathy and Neil wanted to make their Boots and All wines just for us because “We looked at your Naked Wines site and straight away saw you’re all about strong relationships… we are too.”
You will not find a more passionate husband and wife winemaking team with so much talent, experience and integrity as this stellar couple.
Cathy – ‘the winemaker’ - has notched up a swag of vintages, hand-crafting wines for such luminaries as Pipers Brook in Tasmania, St Hallet in the Barossa, Evans and Tate in Mildura and loads more in Margaret River, W.A.
And then, Neil – ‘the grape grower’ - has expansive knowledge as an elite vigneron and vineyard manager gained through hard-fought-and-won seasons at the iconic Blue Pyrenees and Mount Avoca in Victoria, and the mighty Sandalford in Margaret River, W.A. and… yep, you get the idea…
But, there’s a huuuge difference between making a wine the way you’re told to by a big corporate boss, and... the way you’d really love to!
Cathy and Neil always had a dream: to take the leap, to go it alone, find a little plot of perfect soil, grow their own grapes and make their own wines... their own way. So now, their own brilliant Geographe vineyard, in Western Australia, is where the magic happens.
After a handful of establishing years their pristine Geographe vineyard is now producing the most delectable, textural wine we could dream of! Starting with their 2017 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon, and with a Shiraz release around the corner, we can't wait to see their journey unfold.
To celebrate, their ‘Boots and All’ range of hand-made Geographe wine is now exclusive to Angels. We’re extremely proud to have Cathy and Neil on board with us here at Naked Wines. It only happened because of Angel backing!
