CHAPTER 20 | 1950s – Boom Times Again
established vineyards were planted on shallow soils with a prevalence of flooding. It was also deemed too hot to make the type of table wines popular in Europe and the United States. During his time in Western Australia, Olmo became well acquainted with Houghton’s winemaker, Jack Mann, who had harboured thoughts that the Frankland River/Mount Barker area in the Lower Great Southern was potentially a great place to plant vines. Although he had visited the region when playing cricket, Jack Mann had not followed up on this idea but was, according to his son Dorham, keen to ‘indoctrinate’ Olmo with ‘the prospects of cool-climate wines’ in that part of the world. According to James Halliday, this was an opinion shared by the Hunter Valley’s Maurice O’Shea, who made the comment that if he had his time again, he would have established vineyards in the area. After visiting the Frankland River, Olmo concluded that the southwest was ‘equivalent or better than areas to be found in the present [day] quality districts of Australia or California’. Even though the region boasted an average rainfall of around 760–890 mm, alluvial soils, and moderate summer growing conditions, it would take another decade before vines were planted. Harold Olmo’s visit laid the groundwork for more observations and studies. But Olmo’s report ‘A Survey of the Grape Industry of Western Australia’ was largely ignored by the
state government. State Viticulturalist Bill Jamieson and scientist Dr John Gladstones, however, played a central role in getting a wine industry going in the southwest. Although Olmo championed the potential of Frankland River, Jamieson and Gladstones also favoured Margaret River, a dairying region with a climate similar to that of Bordeaux.
California’s Dr Harold P Olmo from, The Grape Professors of UCLA. [UCLA, Academic Technology Services Photographs and Video Recordings AR-198]
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