THE AUSTRALIAN ARK – Federation to the Modern Era | 1900–1982
CIRCA 1920 CLARENDON HILLS, ASTRALIS VINEYARD McLaren Vale, South Australia
The steep four-hectare Astralis Vineyard was originally planted with 19th-century colonial vinestock sourced from Château Reynella in the 1920s. The dry-grown, low-yielding, elevated, single vineyard, on a 45-degree slope, faces due east and has a top soil layer of pebble-ridden clay and a subsoil layer of pure ironstone. The site was once trellised, but now these old vines are ‘farmed as they grow, without trellising’. Former biochemist Roman Bratasiuk was inspired by the classic South Australian wines of the 1950s and 1960s, particularly Penfolds wines. After purchasing the old Elysium winery at Blewitt Springs in McLaren Vale and renaming the winery Clarendon Hills, he launched the 1994 Astralis Syrah, which played an important role in transforming the reputation of ultra-fine wine.
1921 MOTHER VINE BLOCK, MOUNT PLEASANT ESTATE VINEYARD Hunter Valley, New South Wales
This is an historic early 20th-century vineyard, planted by Maurice O’Shea with pinot noir cuttings sourced from the Kelman vineyard at Kirkton, which was pulled up a few years later. This material was original vinestock material, catalogue 49 of the James Busby Collection, which had been planted by James Busby’s brother-in-law in 1832. In 1956, this small patch was among just nine acres of pinot noir in the Hunter Valley. Most of the pinot noir vines in the region were virus-affected and produced wines that were pink in colour, with dilute flavours. Lindeman’s used it primarily to build-up yeast populations for its ferments. Mother Vine Block is famous because it is the source of MV4, MV5, and the most famous MV6 clones, the latter of which has adapted prolifically in Australia, producing wines of lovely colour and intensity of flavour. The original cuttings were taken from New South Wales State Viticulturalist Graham Gregory and then improved through selection, heat treatment, and propagation by the CSIRO, at Merbein, under research scientist John Possingham.
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