CHAPTER 13 | 1900s – Federation
New oak hogsheads, which have been seasoned by holding wine of the first making, are used for the export trade, and it is very important that the product should not be depreciated by being put into inferior or unsuitable casks. Unseasoned new casks give much of the wood flavour to the wine, and unsound casks, with bulged staves, cracked heads or titholes, would be rejected by shipping companies. In preparing the casks they are kept filled with water for three days; a second filling of water stands in them for another day, and they are rinsed with a third water, containing a little sulphuric acid. They are next washed out with a solution of caustic soda, and put upon by steam jets from the boiler, after which the hoops are driven and the casks washed out with wine and lightly sulphured. When the sulphur fumes have had time to escape, the hogsheads are filled with wine for shipment. –––––– . . .
Château Reynella was a thriving wine business by the turn of the century. After John Reynell’s death in 1873, Walter Reynell took over the farm but remained as a manager and then director (1883) of Elder Smith and Co until his retirement in 1910. Walter Reynell also became the superintendent director of Château Tanunda in 1902 and was an investor in other agricultural activities. For instance, he was a co-owner of the vast Tolarno Station founded by brothers William and Ross Reid on the Darling River near Menindie. Walter Reynell’s daughter Lucy married Ross Reid around 1868.
Walter Reynell (seated) with family at Reynella, Southern Vales South Australia (Carew Reynell, standing 2nd to the left), 1906. [SLSA B-58415]
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