THE AUSTRALIAN ARK – Federation to the Modern Era | 1900–1982
While many wineries were beginning to focus on fine wine production, other producers imagined a different future. By 1959 Deen De Bortoli and his father, Vittorio, had increased their fermentation and storage capacity to 110 vats, the equivalent of 705,000 gallons. The family had also witnessed the post-war
Whilst oak containers will never be outmoded, concrete and brick have been superseded by stainless steel. The hazard of old concrete and brick tanks of the ’20s was very real, because cracks inevitably developed, became infected, and were a constant source of worry. – Ron Haselgrove, recollections
1959 LINDEMAN’S BIN 1590 HUNTER RIVER BURGUNDY Hunter Valley, New South Wales
The 1959 Lindeman’s Bin 1590 Hunter River Burgundy came from a great low-yielding Hunter Valley vintage and coincided with the transition of winemaking responsibilities from Hans Mollenhauer to Karl Stockhausen. Ray Kidd, who would become one of the wine industry’s great innovators and administrators during the 1970s and 1980s, also had substantial personal involvement in making the wine. The 1959 Bin 1590 was identified early as something special. Matured in cask for around 18 months, it would be bottled in October 1960 in a Bordeaux bottle. Some early releases were labelled Bin 1590 Claret, probably to match the bottle with the wine; however, subsequent releases would be labelled Bin 1590 Burgundy. Max Lake described the wine as ‘a marvellous soft round red, with a bouquet suggesting strawberries, bottled as a claret and smartly relabelled burgundy as it sped its way to show glory’. Its show record would be desultory until 1963. The change of label to burgundy and subsequent entries into burgundy wine show classes would prove an act of good fortune. The wine would enjoy a stellar show career thereafter.
Lindeman’s Bin 1590 Hunter River Burgundy, 1959.
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