Dave Longden – Chief Winemaker
Dave was born in bayside Sandringham, Victoria in 1970. Just a year later the family moved to Perth, so Dave regards himself as born and bred in Western Australia. He grew up in the Swan Valley winemaking heartland until finishing school and moving to Kalgoorlie to study mining engineering.
After a number of years Dave discovered that mining was not for him and returned to the Swan Valley to work with a very different landscape. Instead of the gold of Kalgoorlie he discovered the romance of the vineyard. He did his first vintage at Houghtons in 1994. He then travelled to California in ‘96 and ‘97 experiencing what he later described as his " wine epiphany " over a bottle of 1966 Chateaux Haut Brion. The experience was life changing and the dalliance with the French would set him on the path to becoming a fine winemaker.
He returned to W.A. for the vintage at Sandalford in ‘97, ‘98 and ‘99 embarking on a winemaking degree at Curtin University. As one of the first ever graduates in 2000, Dave was immediately offered a position as assistant winemaker at Evans and Tate, rising to the position of Senior Winemaker.
Under Dave’s winemaking stewardship, the huge increase in tonnage was matched by a dramatic, much lauded increase in wine quality, with triumphant show results and a trophy cabinet groaning under the increasing weight of the gold medals and trophy’s from show throughout the world.
In 2003 Dave took time out to experience and work a vintage in Bordeaux, with the primary aim of improving Evans and Tate’s red wine quality. And it most certainly worked, with more medals, trophies and peer acclaim following his return.
In 2008 Dave was enticed to join Harman’s Ridge Estate Winery and Howling Wolves Wine Group as Chief Winemaker, where he applied his enviable and awarded talent.
His love of music ( particularly an inclination for the blues ) was a natural fit for the Howling Wolves brand – itself named after legendary blues musician , Howling Wolf. Dave creates premium wines that are fresh, exuberant and fruit driven, allowing natural fruit characters to be expressed to their full, triumphant potential.
And that is certainly the charter at Harman’s Ridge Estate and Howling Wolves Wines.