Our People

David Botting
Chief Viticulturist

David is MadFish’s Chief Viticulturist or Grape Doctor to some!

David jumped at the opportunity to join the team in late 2004 to take charge of our grape resourcing and viticulture. MadFish wasn’t new to David, he had for nearly 10 years been providing viticultural support to Howard Park and MadFish and its growers in his position of Senior Consulting Viticulturist with Davidson Viticultural Consulting Services, one of Australia’s most renowned consulting firms in the field.

Grape vines and viticulture have been part of David’s heritage since his grandfather took up grape growing as a soldier settler following his return from service in Gallipoli during World War 1. David’s own career in viticulture started at a young age in his family’s grape growing business and he went on to study and teach viticulture at Roseworthy Agricultural College in the early 90’s. Not content to just manage vineyards and teach viticulture, he also spent several years investigating various aspects of grape and wine quality with the Co-operative Research Centre for Viticulture at the University of Adelaide. It was from here that he joined Davidson Viticultural Consulting Services and travelled extensively providing technical advice to winegrowing businesses in all of Australia’s established and emerging wine regions and several overseas countries.

Why settle in Margaret River and work full time with Howard Park and MadFish? David’s answer is emphatic;

“Howard Park and MadFish is a quality focused family wine business producing exceptional wines from several of the best wine growing regions in Australia, why would I want to work anywhere else?”

David doesn’t spend much time in his office. Most days he is on the road visiting and working with the 60 or so growers spread over the south west of WA in Margaret River, Pemberton and Great Southern. He also spends a lot of time with the team in Howard Park’s own Leston Vineyard in Margaret River and at its new specialist cool climate vineyard being developed in the Porongorups near Mount Baker in the Great Southern. He is revelling in the opportunity to introduce cutting edge technology along with proven practices into all of Howard Park’s vineyards to produce the best possible quality grapes.

David and his wife Gail live in Busselton at the northern end of Margaret River. They travel to Adelaide at every opportunity to spend time with their two daughters, Kimberley and Jessica, who are finishing tertiary studies at universities there. David does occasionally manage to fit in a bit of time for fishing, his other life long passion. It’s no co-incidence that he now has some of the best fishing he has encountered in Australia right at his doorstep.