REGIONAL ARCHIVE

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McLaren Vale

Introduction
Region Summary
Principal Wine Styles
Regional Best

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Introduction

The development of viticulture in the Barossa Valley (and to a lesser degree the Clare Valley) was fostered almost entirely by Germans from Silesia. That of the Southern Vales - from Reynella to McLaren Vale to Langhorne Creek - was almost exclusively due to the efforts of Englishmen. More precisely, to the efforts of three men: John Reynell, Thomas Hardy and Dr A C Kelly, with a lesser contribution from George Manning at Hope Farm.

Despite the early start - John Reynell laid the foundations for Chateau Reynella in 1838 - viticulture initially played second fiddle to wheat, which enjoyed a brief boom during the 1850s and 1860s. As in the Clare Valley, the fertility of the soil was soon exhausted; the wheat fields disappeared as quickly as they had arrived.

In large part due to the success of Thomas Hardy, who acquired Tintara from Dr A C Kelly in 1876, the pace of viticultural development steadily picked up through the 1880s and 1890s. In 1903 over three million litres of wine (almost entirely red table and fortified) was made by the 19 wineries in the district. Thomas Hardy was the largest, followed (in order) by Reynella, Horndale, Vale Royal, Tatachilla, The Wattles, Kay Brothers Amery, Clarendon Vineyard, Pirramimma, Wirra Wirra, Mount Hurtle, Potts Bleasdale, Hope Vineyard, Mrs Douglas, Ryecroft, Katunga, Formby and E Potts.

The prosperity was in large part founded on the English trade, with the staple export dark coloured, high alcohol, tannic dry red wine of legendary medicinal value. This trade continued (with a brief hiatus between 1940 and 1945) until well into the 1950s, largely through the agency of the Emu Wine Company, which was ultimately acquired by Thomas Hardy from its English owners.

McLaren Vale shared in the prosperity of the 1960s and 1970s, and quickly became the spiritual home of the small winery in Australia, boasting more small wineries than any other region by the early 1970s. The one threat was urban sprawl, which progressively swallowed up the large vineyards which once existed between Reynella and Adelaide, and reduced the vineyards around Reynella to token levels.

Hopefully, there will be no more major inroads. Because Adelaide's population base is small, it exerts less pressure on McLaren Vale than, for example, Melbourne does on the Yarra Valley, and winemaking plays a much greater role in the economy and hence the political consciousness of South Australia than it does elsewhere.

On the other hand, the opportunities for expansion seem limited - not so much by urban pressure as by a severe shortage of water for irrigation. The underground watertable is severely depleted, and additional surface catchment has been prohibited since the mid-1990s while an extensive water resource study is carried out. The long-term solution would seem to be with diverting and piping part of the Murray River flow, but the cost of such a scheme makes it an improbable dream.

Notwithstanding these limitations, the region is experiencing prosperity reminiscent of its golden days at the end of the nineteenth century. Its traditional staples of Grenache and Shiraz (and also Mourvedre) have come thundering back into vogue at the same time as it has forged a formidable reputation for its Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Only Riesling seems impervious to the charms of McLaren Vale, obdurately producing a rather heavy, oily wine.

by James Halliday