10. A Brief History of the Canberra District

Brian Johnston

McKellar Ridge Wines

Introduction

The history of the establishment of grape-growing and winemaking in what is now known as the Canberra District is a story in two parts. The first relates to pioneering efforts of various property owners who grew grapes in the Yass–Gunning area following the opening up of pastoral land for grazing in the area in the early 1820s. The second relates to the establishment of commercial vineyards in the area surrounding the Australian Capital Territory in the early 1970s and the establishment of the Canberra District as we now know it.

It is worth recalling the very early history of grape-growing in Australia. The first commercial vineyard in Australia was the Rose Hill vineyard established at Parramatta from cuttings brought to Australia by Governor Phillip on the First Fleet. In 1791 there were reported to be 3 acres (1.2 ha) of vines growing at Rose Hill. Grape-growing slowly spread as new settlers arrived, some with grape-growing experience. Captain John Macarthur established Camden Park in the early 1820s with more than 8 ha of vines, and that property subsequently played an important role in the importation and distribution of vine cuttings throughout New South Wales and the Barossa Valley.

Early Plantings in the Yass–Gunning Area

The first recorded planting of vines in the Yass–Gunning area was made by Dr Benjamin Clayton, who established a property called Baltinglass in the mid 1830s. He trained for medical practice in Sydney and travelled to London for his medical exams, completing a Certificate of Surgery with the Royal College in May 1828. Following his marriage to Fanny Broughton in 1835, he took up land at Baltinglass about 2 km outside Gunning where he also operated as the local doctor for nearly 20 years. By the mid 1840s, the property was highly regarded, having sheep, cattle and grapevines, as well as a substantive house. It is reported that he cultivated every variety of grape known and experimented in producing wine. He is reported to have produced an excellent Gunning wine that was awarded a medal in France, although details of this award have yet to be fully described. A watercolour of the property made in 1866 shows several acres of vines.

Dr Clayton was not the only Yass–Gunning grape-growing pioneer. Others included John Hardy, who planted grapes at Hardwicke near Yass, Hamilton Hume at Cooma Cottage, Robert Campbell, a Sydney merchant and large landowner who established a small vineyard at Duntroon in the 1860s, as well as a number of others.

Helm and Cambourne (1999) report that records from the Colonial Secretary’s Office show that by 1858 there were 5 ha of vines planted to wine grapes in the County of King (including Yass), producing 1660 gallons (7550 L) of wine and 230 gallons (1000 L) of brandy. However, Helm and Cambourne reported that wine production in the district by 1908 had become uneconomic, with the last winery, Ainsbury near Yass, closing its doors in that year. This was due to a combination factors including the activities of the Temperance Movement reducing consumption, the depression of 1893 and the flood of wine from South Australia and Victoria that followed Federation in 1901.

The Resurgence of the Canberra District

A resurgence of interest in grape-growing in the district occurred with the establishment of Canberra as the nation’s capital and the influx of new families. The first known vineyard in the ACT was established by the Forner family, when Clem Forner moved from Griffith in 1925 to work in the ACT and took up an orchard lease at Narrabundah. (Interestingly, Clem was a friend of the De Bortoli family who established the wine empire at Griffith.) The vineyard at Narrabundah comprised about 1.2 ha and grew both red and white grapes, the family making what were described as ‘Chablis’ and ‘Cabernet’ style wines. It was only when the ACT Government began resuming leases for housing in the late 1950s that the vineyard was removed.

The Scientific Pioneers

By the mid 1960s, Canberra was a thriving city with many fine academic institutions, including The Australian National University, the John Curtin School of Medical Research and the CSIRO. It is from these institutions that the rebirth of the Canberra District, as we now know it, was to come.

Four names initially stand out: Dr Edgar Riek and Ken Helm, both from CSIRO Division of Entomology, Dr John Kirk from the CSIRO Division of Plant Industry and the lesser known Dr Max Blake from the John Curtin School of Medical Research. Evidence gathered during the preparation of our book Wines of the Canberra District: Coming of age (2011) has revealed an interesting time line of early plantings and subsequent commercial production.

Dr Riek, who has a passion for fine wines and fine food, was the first Cellar Master for the Canberra Food and Wine Club in 1953. He also knew a number of Rutherglen and Milawa winemakers well, including Mick Morris and the Brown brothers, becoming involved in Muscat maturation trials and wine judging at the Rutherglen Wine Show in the early 1960s. He decided Canberra had the climate for growing grapes and thought he would put his skills to the test. He acquired a set of grape cuttings from the CSIRO Merbein Research Station in 1966 and planted them in his garden in Ainslie. In 1967 these were planted out on a friend’s property at Sutton. When he returned from overseas at the end of 1968, he was disappointed to find the cuttings were doing poorly due to the harsh summer conditions. This led to the search for a better site.

Luckily, his wife had spotted a number of blocks for sale on the edge of Lake George, about 50 km north of Canberra. Edgar was familiar with the microclimate of the area, having driven past the site in the middle of winter over the years. He had noticed the ‘warmer’ conditions on the edge of Lake George, as the car windows defrosted when he drove by.

In November 1970 the ‘Cullarin’ site was purchased and it has proved to be warmer than Canberra by an average of 2ºC during winter. With good drainage and a natural spring, Cullarin proved to be an excellent grape-growing site.

Dr Riek planted the first half-acre of grapes in 1971, using a rotary hoe to prepare the site and planting vegetables—sweet corn, tomatoes and beans—between the rows to assist with family self-sufficiency. A 100-year-old slab hut was renovated to provide shelter during vintage, and plantings gradually expanded. The early grapes were planted without the benefit of drip irrigation and usually took four years before they bore significant fruit.

Also in 1968, while Dr Riek was facing the disappointment of the poor establishment of his cuttings at Sutton, Dr Max Blake was having more success on his property near Bungendore, where a trial plot of 100 vines was successfully established (Helm and Cambourne 1999). This site was subsequently abandoned and he went on to establish a 4 ha vineyard at nearby Brooks Creek in 1973, which he named Shingle House.

The year 1971 has also proven to be a significant year in the re-establishment of the Canberra District for a second reason: Dr Kirk and his family planted the first vines at Clonakilla, a property on the outskirts of Murrumbateman. One hectare of vines was planted in 1971—Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling.

Dr Kirk initially planted the vines on a relatively low area of the property and they grew well in the first year, which was relatively wet. This encouraged him to expand his plantings to 1.5 ha the following season. The summer of 1972–73 was a shock—a drought had arrived—and, without irrigation, many of the vines were severely water stressed and many died. Some of the first plantings, which were at the bottom of the hill, received some moisture from the ground and survived, but most of the new, second-year plantings and the first died, leaving about 0.5 ha under vines. The dry, hot summers also encouraged the brown grasshoppers to feed on the young vines, causing further damage, along with that from rabbits and cockatoos. Despite these setbacks and with the advent of drip irrigation, by 1978, the vineyard was eventually well established further up the slopes of the property.

In 1973 five more growers began to establish vineyards in the district (Table 1).

Table 1 Development of the First Canberra District Vineyards, 1971–86.

Vineyard	Developer	Year grapes were first planted
Cullarin Cellars (later renamed Lake George Wines)	Dr Edgar Riek	1971
Clonakilla	Dr John Kirk	1971
Nanima Creek Vineyard (now known as Helm Wines)	Ken Helm	1973
Doonkuna Estate	Wing Commander Harvey Smith	1973
Broughton Park (now known as Murrumbateman Wines)	Geoff and Trish Middleton	1973
Westering Vineyard (now Lake George Wines)	Captain Geoff Hood	1973
Shingle House (later known as Brooks Creek)	Dr Max Blake	1973
Affleck Vineyard	Dr Ian and Susie Hendry	1976
Telofa (now known as Yass Valley Wines)	Peter Griffith	1978
Lark Hill	Dr Dave and Sue Carpenter	1978
Benfield Estate (near Yass, no longer operational)	David and Lanette Fetherston	1979
Appletree Hill Vineyard, Queanbeyan (no longer exists)	Dr David Madew, sr	1980
Jeir Creek	Rob and Kay Howell	1984
Ruker Wines (now Linberi Park)	Rick Ruker	1984
Mamre (now Kyeema Vineyard)	Ron McKenzie	1985
Brindabella Hills	Dr Roger and Faye Harris	1986
Pankhurst	Allan and Christine Pankhurst	1986
Park Lane (now Surveyors Hill)	Alwyn Lane	1986

Source: Helm (1979); Helm and Cambourne (1999); author’s own research.

In 1973, Ken Helm, who went on to be a particularly outstanding producer of Riesling wine in the district, planted his first vines at his Nanima Creek vineyard—the same year as Wing Commander Harvey Smith planted Doonkuna, Geoff and Trish Middleton planted Broughton Park, Captain Geoff Hood planted Westering Vineyard and, as noted, Dr Max Blake planted Shingle House.

One of the features of the establishment of the Canberra District in the post-1971 era has been the willingness to learn and share with each other. The inaugural meeting of the Canberra District Winegrowers’ Association, attended by seven people, was held at Dr Riek’s home in November 1974. It was decided to form the association to further exchange information and experiences on grape-growing and winemaking in the area and the association became active during 1975.

The Early Wines

Also in 1975 Dr Riek made his first wine, which included small volumes of red and white varieties. This was shared with friends and wine industry contacts, being bottled as ‘Cullarin Cellars’. He visited France on a number of occasions, taking particular note of grape-growing and winemaking practices in Burgundy to see what he could apply at Cullarin.

The first wines sold commercially in the modern era were made by Dr John Kirk at the family’s Clonakilla property in 1976. These first wines were a white wine blend of Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc and a red wine of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, both produced in small quantities. Dr Kirk sourced some fruit from Doonkuna to help make these wines.

Ken Helm made a Riesling in 1977 and in 1978 he combined with Geoff Middleton to make more small batches of wine. The 1977 Helm Riesling won First Prize in the 1977 Forbes Wine Show—the first wine show medal from the district in the modern era. The following year, also using additional fruit from Doonkuna, they combined to produce 3000 bottles of wine. A Riesling was subsequently offered for sale at the 1979 ANU Wine Symposium organised by the late Jim Murphy (of Murphy Cellars). It was attended by industry leaders including Wolf Blass and Max Schubert, the developer of Grange Hermitage. The Riesling was received with considerable enthusiasm by the delegates and utilised a special Canberra District Vignerons Association label.

The Helm Riesling went on to win further prizes in the 1978 and 1979 Forbes Wine shows, winning Champion Dry White in 1978 and First Prize in 1979. The 1978 Riesling also won First Prize in the Canberra National Show (Amateur Winemakers).

A number of the early Clonakilla wines were also entered in the Forbes Wine Show with considerable success. Also in 1978, three red wines received more than 17 points out of twenty. In 1979, the 1977 Cabernet Shiraz from Clonakilla was judged Best Red Wine of the Show and Clonakilla also won the port class.

At the same 1979 Forbes Show, the Helm–Middleton Chardonnay won Best Dry White, Dr Riek won the Rose and Sauterne classes and Helm–Middleton won Best 1979 Dry Red for their Cabernet Shiraz. These early successes gave great heart to the pioneering winemakers and, with greater awareness of potential and interest, a further 11 vineyards were planted between 1976 and 1986 (see Table 1).

Two of these early vineyards are now gone: Benefield Estate near Yass and Appletree Hill Vineyard in Queanbeyan, which was subsequently used for housing. Shingle House Vineyard (now known as Brooks Creek) is now being revitalised by the owners of Little Bridge Wines, after being effectively abandoned for a number of years.

Great Wines from Diverse Sites

As outlined in our chapter ‘Award winning wines’ in the new edition of the book Wines of the Canberra District: Coming of age, many wines from across diverse sites are now achieving the highest level of quality and success. The successful varietal range is expanding with Chardonnay, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Cabernet, Merlot, Voignier, Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Gruner Veltliner all winning gold medals in recent years. The analysis indicates more than 200 gold and trophy medals have been awarded to Canberra District wines in the past five years—an average of more than 40 a year. In an interesting coincidence, it is also 40 years since Dr Riek and Dr Kirk planted their first commercial vines in 1971. On the basis of this evidence, it seems eminently fair to conclude that the district has truly ‘come of age’.

References

Helm, K., 1979, ‘Cool climate grape growing’, in Wine Talk, Acton Press, Canberra.

Helm, K. and Cambourne, B., 1999, ‘Canberra District: the cool climate wine capital’, Australian Wine Industry Journal, vol. 16, no. 6.

Johnston, B. and Johnson, J., 2011, Wines of the Canberra District: Coming of age, 3R Operations, Canberra.