A history of the Australian wine industry – Part 1

An attempt to start a wine industry in Australia commenced with the arrival of the First Fleet at Port Jackson in January 1788. During the voyage, vines had been procured by Governor Arthur Phillip at Rio de Janeiro and later at the Cape of Good Hope. These were planted with various crops at Farm Cove, the present site of the Sydney Botanical Gardens. A lack of grapes resulted in the vines being transplanted to the Governor’s garden at Parramatta, west of Sydney. In 1791, the garden contained three acres of vines, and the first two bunches of grapes harvested were reported by naval officer Watkin Tench in January of that year. It is quite likely that the grapes were used to make Australia’s first wine.

The first private vine grower in the colony was Philip Schaeffer who had a vineyard of one acre at his Rydalmere farm in 1792. Several private growers had a total of 8.5 acres of vines by 1797. The government encouraged wine-making and drinking in these early years to try and curb consumption of lethal spirits that were being concocted in vast quantities. It was also part of a wider push for self-sufficiency in agriculture. After initial success, these enterprises had failed by the turn of the century. The early years of the industry were hampered by disease and poor management.

Consequently, Antoine Landrien and Francois de Riveau, two French prisoners of war were sent to Australia in 1800 to help establish a wine industry after claiming they had the necessary experience. They planted 12,000 vines but four years later, only forty gallons of poor quality wine had been produced and disease overtook the vines. Further attempts to grow grapes were made by George Suttor at Parramatta and by Nicholas Devine who had three acres of vines at Newton but these ventures failed too as the vine types were unsuited to the Australian conditions.

Gregory Blaxland was probably the pioneer of Australia’s wine industry. After arriving in Sydney in 1806, he grew crops, grasses, and grapes over 25 years on his 450 acre property. His knowledge of viticulture exceeded that of growers before him. He planted both seeds and cuttings, trained the young vines, and dug trenches to keep roots moist. He developed a species resistant to anthracnose and black spot. In 1816, his wine was given the thumbs-up by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Blaxland was the first person to export wine and the first to win an award. He sent a 26 gallon concoction of red wine and French brandy to London in