close-knit male-dominated wine industry, yet she managed to do it with great determination and courage. She was the long-standing winemaker at Chapel Hill wines in McLaren Vale and the very first female wine judge on the Australian wine show circuit. She credited the wine expert Len Evans for giving her the crucial break into this old-fashioned inwardly-looking institution. In 2021 she was awarded a “Degree of Doctor of Science (honoris causa) in recognition of her pioneering work in Australian winemaking, blazing a trail for women winemakers and championing the South Australian wine industry in a career spanning more than 40 years.” Also, in 1969, Greg Trott, with his first cousin Roger Trott, bought six sections of adjacent land with the advice of vigneron Jim Ingoldby and established Wirra Wirra. This venture became a prominent boutique wine producer and later employed Oenotec to help improve and develop its wine portfolio. The Church Block blend, comprising Grenache and Shiraz pressings, modelled on d’Arenberg’s highly successful Burgundy, was released in 1972 and became a popular national wine brand. The blend changed to Cabernet, Shiraz and Merlot in 1982 after Brian Croser and Dr Tony Jordan took on the role of technical consultants. Around the same time new labels began to appear. In 1967 Hugh and Molly Lloyd, together (briefly) with a collective of friends, established the Coriole Vineyard which already comprised a block of 1919 Shiraz plantings. The 1970 Coriole Claret, based on Shiraz, was soon after released. Chapel Hill (1972) and Noon (1976) were also soon established. The McLaren Vale Bushing Festival was inaugurated in 1973 and began an annual tradition where the winemaker who achieves the highest points for a wine in the McLaren Vale Wine Show is named Bushing Queen or King. It began as a relatively low-key and provincial festival with medieval themes and bawdy social activities. But, as the years progressed, the Bushing Festival has become an important social event on the region’s calendar, highlighting the advances in viticulture and winemaking. But it would take 18 years before a woman, Pam Dunsford, was crowned the first official Bushing Queen in 1991. Prolonged drought, excessive heat and floods in the early 1980s created challenging conditions, but the wine industry was poised for expansion
McLaren Vale
15
Powered by FlippingBook