Pewsey Vale

Last updated

Pewsey Vale
Pewsey Vale vineyard.jpg
Location Eden Valley, South Australia, Australia
Wine region Eden Valley wine region
Founded1961
Key people Joseph Gilbert, Geoffrey Angas Parsons, Wyndham Hill-Smith
Cases/yr25,000 cases [1]
Known forContours Riesling
Varietal Riesling
Website www.pewseyvale.com

Pewsey Vale vineyard was founded in Eden Valley, South Australia during 1847 by Englishman, Joseph Gilbert. It is currently part of S.Smith and son. It was the first vineyard established in what is now the Eden Valley wine region [2] [3] and the first to plant Riesling vines in Australia. [4] Pewsey Vale has become one of Australia’s leading producers of commercial riesling, [5] with its signature wine being the Contours Riesling. [6]

Contents

History

In 1839, Joseph Gilbert arrived in Australia after he had decided to leave his home in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire. [7] Prior to his arrival, Gilbert had read in The Times that the ship, The Buckinghamshire, would be leaving for Australia. He had made the decision to leave his home after this news and wasted no time purchasing land after he arrived in Australia, buying 15,000 acres in the Barossa Valley. [2]

In 1841, two years after his purchase of the land in Barossa Valley, he bought more land in the Eden Valley. This particular area was at an altitude of approximately 500 meters above sea level. At this altitude, the cooler temperatures were crucial to the eventual success of the winery, as cold would allow for the grapes to undergo longer periods of ripening. [7] [8]

At the age of 38, Gilbert had built a home on the Eden Valley property and began to plant his first grapevines, but they were of the table grape variety. It was not until 1847 when Gilbert started to plant grapes for the purpose of winemaking, hence establishing Eden Valley’s first winery. During the initial stages of his efforts, Gilbert was known to tinker with his approach to winemaking. His findings during this time were crucial to the wine industry in the Eden Valley. Gilbert was also known to take some of his cuttings and distribute them to others in the region who were interested in starting their own vineyard. [2]

Despite the fact that the vineyard was established over 160 years ago, it has not been in operation for that entire duration. Economic issues during the Great Depression in the 1920s caused the Pewsey Vale winery to go downhill, which eventually led to a long period of abandonment. [9] It was not until 1961, when Geoffrey Angas Parsons, the owner of Pewsey Vale at the time, found out that his property was home to the region's first vineyard. Parsons and his friend, Wyndham Hill-Smith, discussed the idea of restoring the property. At the time, several wineries were looking at potential sites with cooler ripening conditions than those found in the Barossa Valley. Intrigued, Parsons and Hill Smith began to restore the vineyard and planted 56 hectares of riesling and cabernet sauvignon. [1] It was at this time that the modern Pewsey Vale winery was founded. [2]

Riesling and the Stelvin Cap

The Pewsey Vale Riesling became recognized in 1969 after winning a number of awards, [10] and to this day, the Contour Riesling is thought to be the signature wine produced by the winery. [6]

Starting in 1977, Pewsey Vale became the first winery to use the Stelvin screw cap to seal their bottles of wine. [4] [11] The Stelvin proved to be a much better method of sealing the wine than the previously used Stelcap [10] The new closure eliminated the possibility of wine taint from cork. In addition, the seal would not allow any air into the bottle, thus ensuring the wine would undergo a slower aging process. [10] [12]

Despite the fact that the Australian wine industry was interested in the idea of sealing wines with the Stelvin screw-cap, consumers did not agree. Because consumers saw the use of a metallic cap as an indication of an inferior product, the winery stopped using the Stelvin screw-cap in 1984. [11] [13] Pewsey Vale never fully gave up on the idea, and reintroduced the Stelvin in 1995 for their riesling wines intended for museum use. [10] In 2000, current winemaker Louisa Rosa was quoted as saying: Pewsey Vale Rieslings are renowned for their exceptional aging ability. While Australian wine consumers may not be quite ready to go back to Pewsey Vale in Stelvin, at least we can rest assured that the aging potential of these (museum) wines will be maximised. [12]

From 2003, it was decided that all Pewsey Vale Rieslings would be released with the Stelvin screw-cap. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German wine</span> Alcoholic beverage made from grapes grown in Germany

German wine is primarily produced in the west of Germany, along the river Rhine and its tributaries, with the oldest plantations going back to the Roman era. Approximately 60 percent of German wine is produced in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where 6 of the 13 regions (Anbaugebiete) for quality wine are situated. Germany has about 103,000 hectares of vineyard, which is around one tenth of the vineyard surface in Spain, France or Italy. The total wine production is usually around 10 million hectoliters annually, corresponding to 1.3 billion bottles, which places Germany as the eighth-largest wine-producing country in the world. White wine accounts for almost two thirds of the total production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torbreck</span> Winery in South Australia

Torbreck is an Australian winery in the Barossa Valley, founded by David Powell in 1994. The winery was named one of the World's Top 100 Wine Estates by Robert Parker. The winery is named after a forest in Scotland where Powell worked as a lumberjack. The wines are made in a style emulating those of the Rhône Valley and are made from various grapes including red grapes Shiraz, Grenache and Mataró as well as white grapes Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eden Valley, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Eden Valley is a small South Australian town in the Barossa Ranges. It was named by the surveyors of the area after they found the word "Eden" carved into a tree. Eden Valley has an elevation of 460 metres and an average annual rainfall of 716.2mm. Eden Valley is in the Barossa Council local government area, the state electoral district of Schubert and the federal divisions of Barker and Mayo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penfolds</span> Winery in South Australia

Penfolds is an Australian wine producer that was founded in Adelaide in 1844 by Christopher Rawson Penfold, an English physician who emigrated to Australia, and his wife Mary Penfold. It is one of Australia's oldest wineries, and is currently part of Treasury Wine Estates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Australian wine</span>

The South Australian wine industry is responsible for more than half the production of all Australian wine. South Australia has a vast diversity in geography and climate which allows the state to be able to produce a range of grape varieties–from the cool climate Riesling variety in the Clare Valley wine region to the big, full bodied Shiraz wines of the Barossa Valley.

High Eden is the Australian geographical indication of a subregion of the Eden Valley wine region within the Barossa zone in Australia. The High Eden wine region was entered in the Register of Protected Names on 28 August 2001. It is a somewhat oval shaped area in the western part of Eden Valley of slightly less than 40 square kilometres with an elevation of about 500 metres above sea level, the highest point in Eden Valley. It contains parts of the localities of Flaxman Valley and Pewsey Vale. The region is sparsely populated and the hilly terrain is generally unspoilt with native vegetation such as giant red gum trees intact. Minute blue wrens and wedge-tailed eagles inhabit the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inniskillin</span>

Inniskillin is a Canadian winery located in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Inniskillin, which is mainly noted for its icewine production, has played an important pioneering role in the modern Canadian wine industry. Since 1994, Inniskillin also operates a winery in Okanagan, British Columbia in addition to its original location.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elderton Wines</span> Winery in South Australia

Elderton Wines is an Australian winery in Nuriootpa, in the Barossa Valley. The company was founded by Neil and Lorraine Ashmead in 1979. The Elderton wines are made from grape varieties including red grapes Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel as well as white grapes Riesling and Chardonnay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henschke</span> Winery in South Australia

Henschke is a family-owned, 155-year-old Australian winery, located in Keyneton, South Australia in the Eden Valley wine region. It produces the 'Hill of Grace', one of Australia's "cult wines", and was considered Australia's second best wine by James Halliday in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountadam Vineyards</span>

Mountadam Vineyards is a winery established in 1972 and is located in Eden Valley, South Australia within the Barossa wine zone. The winery is particularly known for its Chardonnay wines.

Tintara is an Australian winery located in McLaren Vale, South Australia within the McLaren Vale wine region. The winery was established in 1861 and incorporated in the 1862 as the Tintara Vineyard Company by Alexander Kelly, a medical physician and winemaker who wrote the early Australian winemaking and viticultural text Winegrowing in Australia and The Vine in Australia. Several prominent figures in the early history of South Australia and McLaren Vale were initial investors in the winery including the founder of the University of Adelaide, Walter Watson Hughes, landowner Samuel Davenport and politician Thomas Elder. Today the winery holds the distinction of producing the oldest surviving bottle of Australian wine—an 1867 Tintara Vineyard claret. The Tintara wine earned the distinction when the previous record holder, an 1864 bottle of Pewsey Vale Cabernet Sauvignon, was accidentally broken by an office cleaner at Christie's auction house.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barossa Valley (wine)</span> Wine region in South Australia

The Barossa Valley wine region is one of Australia's oldest and most premier wine regions. Located in South Australia, the Barossa Valley is about 56 km northeast of the city of Adelaide. Unlike most of Australia whose wine industry was heavily influenced by the British, the wine industry of the Barossa Valley was founded by German settlers fleeing persecution from the Prussian province of Silesia. The warm continental climate of the region promoted the production of very ripe grapes that was the linchpin of the early Australian fortified wine industry. As the modern Australian wine industry shifted towards red table wines in the mid-20th century, the Barossa Valley fell out of favor due to its reputation for being largely a Syrah from producers whose grapes were destined for blending. During this period the name "Barossa Valley" rarely appeared on wine labels. In the 1980s, the emergence of several boutique families specializing in old vine Shiraz wines began to capture international attention for the distinctive style of Barossa Shiraz, a full bodied red wine with rich chocolate and spice notes. This led to a renaissance in the Barossa Valley which catapulted the region to the forefront of the Australian wine industry.

Grosset Wines is an Australian winery based in the Clare Valley wine region of South Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Gilbert (winemaker)</span> Pastoralist and winemaker in South Australia

Joseph Gilbert was a pastoralist and winemaker in South Australia from 1839 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethel Heights Vineyard</span>

Bethel Heights Vineyard is an Oregon winery in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA of the Willamette Valley. Founded in 1977 by twin brothers Ted and Terry Casteel, their wives Pat Dudley and Marilyn Webb, and Pat's sister Barbara Dudley, the vineyard was one of the earliest plantings in the Eola-Amity Hills region. A winery soon followed, with the first estate wines produced in 1984. Bethel Heights specializes in Pinot noir, offering several individual block and vineyard designated bottlings, but also produces wines made from Chardonnay, Pinot gris, Pinot blanc, Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, and Gewürztraminer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Salem Vineyards</span>

Mount Salem Vineyards is a boutique winery in the Pittstown section of Alexandria Township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. Formerly a produce, grain, and dairy farm, the vineyard was first planted in 2005, and opened to the public in 2010. Peter Leiter, the proprietor of Mount Salem, founded the Appalachian Highlands Vinifera Society, whose mission is to enhance the quality of wine grape growing and winemaking in Northern New Jersey. Mount Salem has 7 acres of grapes under cultivation, and produces 1,000 cases of wine per year. The winery is located at over 600 feet above sea level on Mount Salem, the mountain for which the farm is named.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Cane</span> Australian winemaker

Benjamin Cane is an Australian winemaker who currently owns Duke's Vineyard in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. He has made award-winning wines of different varietals across three continents, with pinot noir standing out as a true source of passion and inspiration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eden Valley wine region</span> Wine region in South Australia

Eden Valley wine region is a wine region located in South Australia immediately north of the capital city of Adelaide which covers an area in the Mount Lofty Ranges extending from Truro in the north to just south of Springton in the south. The region received appellation as an Australian Geographical Indication in 1997 and as of 2014, it is represented by at least 36 wineries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Château Tanunda Winery</span>

Château Tanunda is an Australian winery established in 1890 in the Barossa Valley of South Australia.

Pewsey Vale is a locality east of the southern Barossa Valley in the western part of the Eden Valley of South Australia. It was first established as a sheep station pastoral run in the early years of the colony by Joseph Gilbert. Gilbert named his run Pewsey Vale in 1839 after the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, England, where he was born. It was originally to be called Karrawatta, however this name was easily confused with the neighboring Tarrawatta.

References

  1. 1 2 WinePros: Pewsey Vale Archived 13 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine , winepros.com.au, accessed 11 November 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Pewsey Vale: History Archived 12 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine , pewseyvale.com, accessed 11 November 2009.
  3. ↑ South Australian Wine Regions, worldwinegroup.com, accessed 11 November 2009.
  4. 1 2 LA Times - White-hot Australia
  5. ↑ Pewsey Vale Eden Valley Riesling Archived 12 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine , galesofllangollen.co.uk, 29 January 2009, accessed 11 November 2009.
  6. 1 2 Wine Atlas of Australia, books.google.com, accessed 11 November 2009.
  7. 1 2 Wine Doctor: Pewsey Vale, thewinedoctor.com, accessed 11 November 2009.
  8. ↑ Pewsey Vale: Vineyard Archived 12 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine , pewseyvale.com, accessed 11 November 2009.
  9. ↑ Wine Business Monthly, winebusiness.com, 15 February 2001, accessed 11 November 2009.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Pewsey Vale and Stelvin; The Contours Archived 15 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine , pewseyvale.com, 29 January 2009, accessed 11 November 2009.
  11. 1 2 3 After 20 years under cork, Pewsey Vale Riesling will revert to screw-cap in 2003 Archived 12 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine , pewseyvale.com, 14 July 2003, accessed 11 November 2009.
  12. 1 2 Rieslings of Pewsey Vale with Louisa Rose Archived 1 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine , winepages.com, September 2000, accessed 11 November 2009.
  13. ↑ The birth of Prima, theaustralian.com.au, 22 March 2008, accessed 11 November 2009.

Coordinates: 34°34′20″S139°05′10″E / 34.572339°S 139.086187°E / -34.572339; 139.086187

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.