Luxe Profile: Lisa McGuigan

Design and art has always been the beginning, middle and end of everything I do

When you meet Lisa McGuigan, immediately you see a woman who is confident, well-dressed in her favourite brand Ann Demeulemeester, a lover of all things art and fashion. This is where her success in the wine industry came from, what sets her aside from others, as well as inspiration from a young age from her mother Fay and her father, Hunter Valley and internationally acclaimed, winemaker, Brian McGuigan.

“Design and art has always been the beginning, middle and end of everything I do,” she says. Her latest success story, Vamp By Lisa McGuigan, is her new wine venture, with a cellar door that opened its doors in 2020. As with the previous success of Tempus Two, which Lisa launched in 1997, the wine industry experienced a shake-up. With its cool branding, look and design, Tempus Two still paid attention to the taste and quality of the wine. Vamp by Lisa McGuigan walks a similar path.

“Every business decision I have ever made has included art and design,” Lisa says. “My business philosophy is built to ensure every detail and aspect of my business remains true to my vision and style. Our focus is on choosing the right people, packaging, staff uniforms, purchase order and design. Every single detail starts as personally hand-drawn design. I feel really lucky to be able to wake up every day and work on something that I love!”

The Façon team went to Lisa’s home in Waterloo, Sydney, for a photoshoot with her. As we entered her home, hanging on her walls were exquisite art pieces, and also dotted around her home are sculptures (you will see some done by her favourite artists in gardens surrounding her cellar door in the Hunter Valley). Learning about art initially at finishing school in Lausanne, Switzerland, she also used this inspiration as a catalyst in her early career. Lisa consciously connected with the likes of Rushcutters Bay Gallery to include her wines and reached out to a new audience, the fashion and art lovers, people who wanted to take part in art in a bottle. And from here her success grew.

Lisa tells us on our shoot day for the magazine as she pours Dom Perignon in her favourite Riedel glasses of how champagne came to be.

“Champagne was accidentally created by Dom Perignon who was a Benedictine monk who made a faux pas and put bubbles in the wine,” she says. “He turned an accident into one of the world’s most prestigious brands.”

Lisa then tells us as we sip on the tiny little bubbles, that he was quoted as saying: “Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!”

Her love of design and art is so obvious in her surroundings. I ask her how this influences her approach to winemaking.

“First question I ask myself is, has anyone else done this lately?” she says. “And how good can I make it taste? If the answer is no to the first question and amazing to the second, then I go ahead and work on the creative side of it, getting working on one of my favourite things, packaging design.”

As we finish our shoot day and scroll through the images on the photographer’s laptop, I ask Lisa a final question: What is Vamp By Lisa McGuigan’s philosophy? She smiles at me and responds with a cheeky smile: “My philosophy has always been in my head. It is still a work in progress as my vision is ever evolving, so it is: Intrigue, Elevate, Inspire, Stand Out.”

You can visit Vamp by Lisa McGuigan Cellar Door, 2198 Broke Road, Pokolbin, NSW or visit the website at lisamcguiganwines.com

WRITTEN BY LARA LUPISH

PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL DEAR