CHAPTER 14 Nationhood Pain
I n South Australia, Penfolds purchased McLaren Vale Cellars in 1910 and built a state-of-the-art winery at Nuriootpa, which was completed after the 1912 vintage. At this time, grape production in the Barossa Valley outstripped the capacity of local wineries. As a consequence, 1,000 tonnes of grapes, at a minimum price of £4 per tonne, were taken by rail for processing at Magill. This was enabled by a new railway line that opened up between Adelaide and Angaston in 1911. The route connected at Gawler and went through Lyndoch, Tanunda, Nuriootpa, and Angaston, stopping near the most important wineries in the district. The line serviced several industries, such as quarrying and fruit processing, and many impressive wineries, like Château Tanunda, Seppeltsfield, Penfolds, and Yalumba. Hogsheads were shipped onto carriages and sent down to Adelaide for shipment to other states or for export, notably England. Around 1910, winery design also changed, as more powerful steam pumps could be employed to transfer wine without the need for gravity flow: new technology provided more power to handle the flow of wine. As a consequence, many wineries built from 1910 onwards were constructed on a single level rather than in stepped form against the side of a hill. The new Penfolds winery at Nuriootpa comprised state-of-the-art equipment to process fruit. When the Barossa Co-operative Winery was established in the 1930s to vinify surplus grapes (and to underpin the price of fruit), the facade was suitably imposing, albeit functional in design.
PREVIOUS PAGE: Markview Winery Junee, New South Wales ca 1910. [McWilliams Collection]
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