New South Wales Wine - History

History

According to the writings of Watkin Tench, the very first Australian vineyard was planted in New South Wales in 1791 with vines from settlements in South Africa. The vines were planted in the garden of Arthur Phillip, then Governor of the colony, in a site that is now the location of a hotel on Macquarie Street in Sydney. Phillip's early vineyard did not fare well in the hot, humid climate of the region and he sent a request to the British government for assistance in establishing viticulture in the new colony. The government responded by sending two French prisoners of war, under the assumption that all French citizens must know something about making wine. However, neither men had any viticultural training and the most they were able to produce was peach cider.

In 1824, James Busby was awarded a land grant for 800 hectares (1,980 acres) along the Hunter River which he planted with grapevines, studying the techniques that he would include in his 1830 book A Manual of Plain Directions for Planting and Cultivating Vineyards and for Making Wine in New South Wales. In 1831, Busby toured Europe and collected over 600 vine samples from across the continent and shipped them back to Sydney. Many of these vines survived the trip and were cultivated in New South Wales and from there spread across Australia, introducing new varieties to the land. By the mid 19th century, the wine industry of New South Wales was thriving. In 1855, a sparkling wine from the region was featured at the Paris Exposition Universelle, the same exposition that introduced the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. The wine was well received and won the honour of being served during the event's closing ceremonies at the state banquet of Napoleon III.