CHAPTER 16 | 1920s – Bountiful Years
beer), would retire from Penfolds in 1952 at the age of 89, after 69 vintages. He would die just five weeks later. . . . Ronald Martin was a key figure on the Federal Australian Viticultural Council and was widely regarded by the industry. He also served as its president for a while. Ron Haselgrove recalled that ‘the character that stands out from the twenties above all is Ronald Martin of Stonyfell, to whose sound judgement the Council owed much in its early years’. Martin’s Stonyfell Winery near Adelaide, which Martin would eventually own outright in 1934, was a great success. (Previously, around 1910, he had also agreed to take over his brother-in-law Arthur Formby’s winemaking and distribution. Fifty years later, this would result in a famed connection between the Stonyfell brand and Langhorne Creek’s Metala Vineyard.) Martin was also instrumental in setting up an import business in the United Kingdom with Carl Skipper Angove in 1929 to exclusively sell Australian wine. This would also lead to a shareholding in Angove’s St Agnes Brandy distillery. Dominion Wines Limited specialised in bringing in bulk wine from Angove’s and Stonyfell. Martin’s friendship with Roseworthy-College-educated Leslie Salter would later lead to a partial investment in W Salter & Son at Angaston in the Barossa Valley. Although not a majority shareholder, he would own one-third of the company, and after Leslie Salter’s resignation in 1937, Martin would take over the management of the family’s Saltram winery and acquire the business outright in 1941. The combination of winemaking in the Barossa and maturation and bottling at Stonyfell worked very well. Amazingly, the winemaker Fred Ludlow was just the third winemaker at Saltram since its establishment in 1859. His career would last from 1917 until 1953, after which a succession of famous Australian winemakers would follow, including Bryan Dolan and Peter Lehmann.
Commemorative desk set celebrating Minchinbury Vineyard’s first release of champagne on 1 July 1920. [NMA MA81739122]
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