Pewsey Vale vineyard was founded in

Eden Valley, 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 ...

during 1847 by

Englishman The English people are an ethnic group and nation native to England, who speak the English language, a West Germanic language, and share a common history and culture. The English identity is of Anglo-Saxon origin, when they were known in ...

, Joseph Gilbert. It is currently part of S.Smith and son. It was the first

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

established in what is now the

Eden Valley wine region 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. T ...

Pewsey Vale: History
, pewseyvale.com, accessed 11 November 2009. and the first to plant Riesling vines in Australia.LA Times - White-hot Australia
/ref> Pewsey Vale has become one of Australia’s leading producers of commercial

riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

, with its signature

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

being the Contours Riesling.Wine Atlas of Australia
books.google.com, accessed 11 November 2009.

History

In 1839, Joseph Gilbert arrived in Australia after he had decided to leave his home in the

Vale of Pewsey The Vale of Pewsey or Pewsey Vale is an area of Wiltshire, England to the east of Devizes and south of Marlborough, centred on the village of Pewsey. Geography The vale is an extent of lower lying ground separating the chalk downs of Salisbury ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

.Wine Doctor: Pewsey Vale
thewinedoctor.com, accessed 11 November 2009. Prior to his arrival, Gilbert had read in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' that the

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

, 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 The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ya ...

in the

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley ( Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major wine-producing region and tourist destinati ...

. 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 Ripening is a process in fruits that causes them to become more palatable. In general, fruit becomes sweeter, less green, and softer as it ripens. Even though the acidity of fruit increases as it ripens, the higher acidity level does not make the ...

. At the age of 38, Gilbert had built a home on the Eden Valley property and began to plant his first

grapevines ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 79 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, b ...

, but they were of the

table grape Table grapes are grapes intended for consumption while fresh, as opposed to grapes grown for wine production, juice production, or for drying into raisins. ''Vitis vinifera'' table grapes can be in the form of either seeded or non-seeded varieta ...

variety. It was not until 1847 when Gilbert started to plant grapes for the purpose of

winemaking Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and ...

, 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. 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 The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

in the 1920s caused the Pewsey Vale winery to go downhill, which eventually led to a long period of abandonment. 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 The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ab ...

of riesling and

cabernet sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

.WinePros: Pewsey Vale
, winepros.com.au, accessed 11 November 2009. It was at this time that the modern Pewsey Vale winery was founded.

Riesling and the Stelvin Cap

The Pewsey Vale Riesling became recognized in 1969 after winning a number of awards,Pewsey Vale and Stelvin; The Contours
, pewseyvale.com, 29 January 2009, accessed 11 November 2009. and to this day, the Contour Riesling is thought to be the signature wine produced by the winery. Starting in 1977, Pewsey Vale became the first winery to use the Stelvin

screw cap A screw cap or closure is a common type of closure for bottles, jars, and tubes. Usage A screw closure is a mechanical device which is screwed on and off of a "finish" on a container. Either continuous threads or lugs are used. It must be engi ...

to seal their bottles of wine. After 20 years under cork, Pewsey Vale Riesling will revert to screw-cap in 2003
, pewseyvale.com, 14 July 2003, accessed 11 November 2009. The Stelvin proved to be a much better method of sealing the wine than the previously used Stelcap 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.
, winepages.com, September 2000, accessed 11 November 2009. 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.The birth of Prima
theaustralian.com.au, 22 March 2008, accessed 11 November 2009. Pewsey Vale never fully gave up on the idea, and reintroduced the Stelvin in 1995 for their riesling wines intended for museum use. 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.'' From 2003, it was decided that all Pewsey Vale Rieslings would be released with the Stelvin screw-cap.

References

External links

Pewsey Vale Vineyard Official Site
{{Langton's Classification of Australian Wine VI - Producers Wineries in South Australia Australian companies established in 1847 Food and drink companies established in 1847

History

Riesling and the Stelvin Cap

See also

References

External links