THE AUSTRALIAN ARK – Federation to the Modern Era | 1900–1982
cultivating the organism that caused sweet wine disease in his trials, discovering it was the spoilage bacteria Lactobacillus. Around 1936, Ray Beckwith, then at Penfolds, read Fornachon’s progress report. He said, ‘There were a variety of treatments and conditions of environment, but one in particular struck me – and that was the influence of a range of pH on the growth of the organism under varying conditions’. On his way home to Murray Bridge on the Melbourne Express from Adelaide, Beckwith pondered over Fornachon’s report and ‘the penny dropped’. Although Fornachon has worked out that pH influenced the growth of Lactobacillus in wine, Beckwith cracked the problem by observing that ‘pH might be a useful tool in the control of bacterial growth in wine’. In plain terms, Ray Beckwith discovered how to stabilise wine and protect it from spoilage. He noted: ‘I settled on a pH of maximum 3.80 for sweet fortified wines, and over the years it proved satisfactory. The main tool for adjustment, i.e., to lower the pH, was tartaric acid which is a natural constituent of wine. Other standards were adopted for dry white and dry red table wines and flor sherry production, and with minor adjustments they are as viable today as when first adopted.’ The implementation of pH meters and strict management standards revolutionised winemaking at Penfolds and gradually filtered across the industry. . . . With the support of the legendary general manager, Alfred Scholz at Nuriootpa, Ray Beckwith introduced a philosophy of preventative winemaking. His observations, innovations, and discoveries, kept under strict wraps by Penfolds management, would profoundly impact the world of fine wine, but not before Penfolds would achieve considerable competitive advantage during the 1950s. Beckwith’s importance to Penfolds in a post-war economy had already been recognised. During World War II, he had been listed by the company as Reserved Occupation, meaning he was prohibited from enlisting for war service. Beckwith’s groundbreaking work and other technical innovations would underpin the creative development of ‘Grange Hermitage’ by Max Schubert and the growing range of Penfolds table wines during the 1950s. For a while, Penfolds had a commercial edge, but soon, winemakers became aware of this crucial knowledge. The strict discipline at Penfolds, in which the interests of the family company came first, ensured that Beckwith’s important discoveries of applied science to wine were hidden. It prevented Beckwith from becoming an international name in wine, contributed to the scant knowledge of his work, and allowed others to employ Beckwith’s technical solution with accreditation. Ian Hickinbotham, ex-Penfolds manager and winemaker, wrote in his autobiography, Australian Plonky , that ‘Beckwith applied his unique knowledge
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