Last Thursday, 24 October 2024 at a private memorial, we farewelled our dear friend Fiona MacDonald. We celebrated her life, her wicked sense of humour and her creative brilliance. Fiona worked with our family for over 20 years, first in public relations and marketing with our previous distributors Tucker Seabrook, Fine Wine Partners and House of Fine Wine, and then as our beloved writer and wordsmith. Fiona orchestrated almost 20 annual Hill of Grace launches over that time. She was an incredible mentor to our marketing and public relations manager, sixth-generation Justine, as well as many Henschke staff over the years, and her ideas knew no bounds.
In 2017 Fiona began writing our 150th anniversary book ‘Hill of Grace: 150 Years of Henschke Under Southern Skies’, spending hundreds of hours researching, interviewing and taking Stephen’s memories of our family winery and turning them into a beautifully emotive family history in Fiona’s ever engaging and enchanting way. A year later our book was published by Hardie Grant, all thanks to the hard work and dedication of our friend Fiona. With Fiona’s background in television, much fun was had creating video content for campaigns, the most memorable being our ‘2015 Hill of Grace: A Vintage Graced by the Luminous Moon’ launch video voiced by Russell Crowe.
Heartbreakingly, Fiona was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2021. She was a warrior and fought this disease with every inch of her soul, creating the fundraising platform ‘It’s a Big Lap for MND’; a 15,500km drive around Australia with her sister Kylie, which to this date has raised over $220,000 for Macquarie University for research into the disease, with the goal to find a cure.
While Fiona lost her speech, she did not lose that quick wit, curiosity, and brilliant way with words. In 2022, Fiona helped us compile another book, this time to celebrate 60 Years of Hill of Grace. The book was released with our 2018 Hill of Grace in May 2023, and was filled with the history of our most ancient vineyard and reviews from a 60-vintage vertical tasting.
Right up until a few months ago we were writing more projects together, and whenever asked if it was too much, Fiona would always say “I need a distraction!”. Fiona’s battle with MND came to an end on 3 October 2024. Our hearts go out to her sons Harry and Rafe, her sisters Jacki and Kylie and extended family, and her many, many communities of friends.
Thank you, Fi, for everything you have helped us with over so many years. We will miss you so much.
The Henschke family – Stephen and Prue, Johann and Angela, Andreas and Ruby, and Justine and Brad Bryksy.
- Please help us in continuing Fiona’s fundraising legacy by donating to MND research.
- The ABC’s Australian Story ran a feature on Fiona in October 2023, and again on 28 October 2024, which can be viewed here.
