37,000 to 40,000 gallons in stock, reflecting the difficulty of the market. Robert Strangways Wigley, or “Bob” as he was called by his mates, jokingly called his estate Chateau Wigley. But after he died on April 20 th 1926, without a direct heir, the vineyard gradually fell into disrepair. One of the biggest brands of Australian wine in the UK market was Keystone Burgundy, a wine distributed by Stephen Smith and Co, and sourced from Tatachilla in McLaren Vale. It began as Liebig’s Meat and Malt Wine, a concoction of beef extract and red wine. But by 1900, the Keystone brand was being sold as a natural wine. And the source vineyard was described as being almost the size of built-up London at the time! The Tatachilla property in 1895 was 2000 acres in size of which 306 acres of vineyard was planted, predominately with Mataro (230 acres!), Carignan (35 acres), Shiraz (33 acres), and Cabernet Sauvignon (8 acres). It was planted by John George Kelly, the son of Alexander Charles “AC” Kelly, and partners in 1867. Most of the crop was sold to Hardy’s at Tintara where John George Kelly was working as a manager. But after a glut in 1903, Kelly left to find new markets for Tatachilla,
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The Vintage Journal – Regional Focus
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