The Big Picture - Australian Origins
The earliest vines were planted in Sydney and unfortunately due to the heat and humidity of the Farm Cove site the vineyard never flourished. John Macarthur on his Camden Park property some 50km South West of Sydney is widely credited with cultivating Australia’s first commercial vineyard and winery early in the 1800’s. Principal varieties grown were Pinot Gris, Frontignac, Gouais, Verdelho and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Commercial vineyards for wine production were well established in most States by 1850. The ancient Australian soils, protected by their very remoteness from the ravages of industrialisation and disease, proved fertile. From the gently undulating soils of the Hunter, to the steep, windswept gradients of the Eden Valley, through to the maritime slopes of Geelong, the early vignerons embraced the vagaries of the vast Australian landscape.
By 1854 the first wine export to the United Kingdom had been formally recorded - 1,384 gallons (6,291 litres).
In the mid 1800’s, Phylloxera, decimated over two thirds of the vineyards in Europe and by 1875 Australia fell victim. Strict quarantine regulations, restricting the movement of vine material between Australian wine regions, enabled South Australia’s wine regions, such as the Barossa Valley, to remain Phylloxera free and thus today lay claim to some of the oldest vines in the world - resolutely growing on their original European rootstocks!
Building Momentum
Domestic consumption of wine vastly increased during World War Two (WWII). The critical shortage of beer saw the thirsty armies of both the US and Australia seeking alternative beverages and until the 1960’s approximately 80% of Australian made wine was sweet fortified sherry and port styles, known in the UK as ‘Colonial Wine’. Contemporary tastes swung slowly away from fortified wine under the influence of post-WWII migrants from Europe who introduced their culture of enjoying food with table wine in restaurants and at home.
Interestingly as early as 1925, the legendary Maurice O’Shea had been quietly championing table wine at his Mount Pleasant vineyard in the Hunter Valley. A master blender, O’Shea’s finely crafted table wines were unprecedented in Australia at the time. Twenty six years later, Penfold’s pioneering winemaker Max Schubert experimented with his first vintage of Grange – the iconic dry red destined to become Australia’s most lauded wine.
By mid 1970, fuelled by consumers’ thirst for dry red table wine, sales of fortified were finally eclipsed and 1980 saw domestic wine consumption per capita reach 17.3 litres, ‘bag in box’ packaging had been perfected, and the liberalization of liquor licensing laws had spawned a profusion of liquor outlets. Consumers had never had it so good and the national palate swung firmly in favor of white wine.
Export Success
The volume of Australian wine exports for the 1981/82 financial year was just over 8 million litres, valued at almost A$14 million. Australia’s principal export market was Canada followed by New Zealand. Approximately 170 Australian wineries were using almost 500,000 tonnes of grapes for wine production from just over 60,000 hectares of vines.
Six years later export volume for the 1987/88 financial year had soared to 39 million litres with a value of A$97 million, and Sweden and the United Kingdom had usurped first and second positions as our prime export markets.
Today, Australia with just 4% of total world wine production is the fourth largest exporter by volume behind the traditional wine producing giants of Italy, France and Spain. In the year ended July 2007 Australia’s wine exports reached record levels for both value (A$3 billion) and volume (805 million litres) and vine bearing area exceeded 160,000 hectares with over 2,100 producers using more than 1.3 million tonnes of grapes for wine production.
Today's Landscape
Today Australia has an enviable restaurant culture where internationally recognized wines can be enjoyed in simpatico with an exciting and ever changing cuisine. With over 60 designated wine regions, the diversity of grapes and resulting wines is on offer the world over and showcases Australia’s established and credible offer of quality wines at every price point.
Australian viticulturists have an enormous diversity of soils, some over 500 million years old that affords them the luxury of planting each variety in an environment guaranteed to see it thrive. Whether it be free draining soil littered with ironstone, ideal for the exacting Pinot Noir, or the famed Terra Rossa, beloved of Cabernet Sauvignon the result of carefully considered plantings is outstanding quality fruit.
Home to many world renowned research and educational facilities Australia’s next generation of winemakers and viticulturists have the sound technical skills necessary to allow unbridled expression of their creative spirit in an international market.
A Case In Point - Robert Hill Smith, Managing Director ─ Yalumba, Barossa Valley, SA
“Nearly 160 years ago, from modest beginnings and 30 acres of land in South Australia's Barossa , the winery named "Yalumba" - an aboriginal word meaning "all the land around" - has grown in size and stature; embodying all that has made the Australian wine success story.
Though the founder Samuel Smith was English an important early winegrower influence in the Barossa was the German immigrants who settled the area having fled religious persecution in Silesia and other parts of northern Europe. Scattered amongst the Lutheran churches and villages, are their descendants who work tirelessly in the vineyards established by their forefathers to produce premium grapes. Some of these vines are over 100 years old and among the oldest in the world.
The history of Yalumba mirrors, to a large extent, the history of the Australian wine industry. During the years when Australia was known primarily for fortified wines, Yalumba developed an envied reputation for its quality "ports" and "sherries". But the true nature of the winery's evolution only really became apparent in the early 1980's at a time when the international wine world was about to experience dynamic change that would see Australia emerge as a powerful force revolutionising attitudes to table and sparkling wine production.
We harboured a dream to focus the family business on the fine wine market crafting some of the country's finest varietal and blended wines. A vision encompassing Estate vineyards on prime sites in Eden Valley, Coonawarra, and Barossa Valley and latterly the new "Wrattonbully" region, was matched by significant modernisation of the winery itself. In addition to establishing environment management systems that complemented the making of superior quality varietal wines that suited the world's changing tastes, Yalumba also saw the value of true "brands".
We are 160 years young, dynamic and looking confidently towards the future."
Yalumba Wine Company, circa 1925
Acknowledgements
Australian Wine & Brandy Corporation Export Approval Data
Australian Bureau of Statistics Vineyard Surveys
HE Laffer The Wine Industry of Australia, The Hassell Press, Adelaide 1949
Campbell Mattinson Wine Hunter, Hachette Australia, Sydney 2006
John Beeston A Concise History of Australian Wine, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards 1995
Campbell Mattinson Why the French Hate Us, The Wine Front in conjunction with Hardie Grant Books, 2007