THE AUSTRALIAN ARK – Federation to the Modern Era | 1900–1982
During the early 1950s, the Australian government signed agreements to accept new immigrants from the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Spain, and West Germany. Many arrived and worked on the Snowy River hydro- electric scheme; others gravitated to rural areas. In the Barossa Valley, the well-preserved 19th and early 20th-century Lutheran churches, the local Barossa Deutsche language, brass bands, and food culture had all become symbols of the wine community. This cultural identity, on the wane for decades, was gradually revived during the 1950s and would continue into the 1960s, with the exception of the language. The 1950s ushered in a new era of brands, including Barossa Pearl, Rhinegold, and Woodley’s. But the industry was still geared towards fortified wine production. The dominating varieties were sultana, muscat gordo blanco, doradillo, grenache, pedro ximenez, shiraz, and palomino. Plantings of other varieties, like Rhine riesling and cabernet sauvignon, were barely on the statistical charts. Further north, in the Clare Valley, the picture was not dissimilar. In 1951, Leo Buring acquired the historic Florita Vineyard at Watervale, planted in 1946 with fortified grape varieties palomino, pedro ximenez, trebbiano, and the versatile shiraz. Its fame would only arrive after the vineyard was replanted with riesling and became the source of John Vickery’s long-lasting Leo Buring DW series Watervale Rieslings (aided by the development of cold fermentation techniques.) In the Swan River, Western Australia’s, Houghton Winery planted a new block of cabernet sauvignon vines during the 1950s. According to the recollection of the grand old winemaker Jack Mann, the cuttings were sourced from the ‘Frenchman’s Block’ of bush vines. No one remembers the location of this 1930s-planted vineyard, but it must have been small. Still, its impact was enormous. This vinestock material eventually became, through the clonal selection of the same genetic origin, the original source vine cuttings for almost all of Western Australia’s great wine estates, including Margaret River’s Moss Wood, Cullen, Leeuwin Estate, Cape Mentelle, Howard Park, Vasse Felix, Woodlands, and Voyager Estate. The Houghton clone of cabernet sauvignon has proven to be extraordinarily valuable to Western Australia’s fine wine industry. Even by 1959, Australia had only crushed 68 tons of cabernet sauvignon, although this would gradually change. One year earlier at Yalumba, Wyndham Hill-Smith invested in large-scale viticulture at Oxford Landing on the Murray River and was the first to plant a large-scale cabernet sauvignon vineyard. The 233- acre property, located on the sandy soil banks of the Murray River near Waikerie, in South Australia, was initially named Yalumba River Estate and had been acquired in 1957. Palomino and doradillo, primarily used for fortified wine production, made up the majority of the 59 hectares of initial plantings. The investment also included significant blocks of cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc, and crouchen.
278
Powered by FlippingBook