purchased the first rubber-tyred tractor in McLaren Vale. But horses were still used in the vineyard especially for pulling incinerators to burn cuttings until the early 1960s. They would later be replaced by rotovators which would mulch the cuttings and “work them up with the soil.” Frank’s son Francis “d’Arry” Osborn, who built up d’Arenberg’s reputation during the 1950s, observed that downy and powdery mildew seemed to appear more regularly after the vineyards stopped burning cuttings. By the mid-1950s, McLaren Vale was producing half of Australia’s dry red table wines. Much of this was produced by Hardy’s, Kay’s, Tatachilla, Reynella, and the Osborns. It was the beginning of a new direction for the region. The introduction of half-gallon glass flagons of inexpensive table wines became hugely popular after 1958 and propelled sales of domestic wine, eventually capturing 40% of the market by 1971. Amongst McLaren Vale’s most entrepreneurial and enlightened winemakers is d’Arry Osborn. When his father Francis (Frank) Ernest died in 1957, d’Arry began to bring new ideas to the family business with the help of others, including ex-Spitfire pilot Doug Collett, a Roseworthy Graduate who had worked at the Emu Wine Company and in the Riverland with new technologies. After trademark difficulties with Victoria’s Bailey’s of Bundarra, the name of the business was changed to Osborn d’Arenberg
McLaren Vale
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