Here's some further correspondence with David Dunston in Australia including is response to the previous letter in this sequence. I'm too lazy to put the three letters in chrono order, but they read pretty well as is.
I was taken with David's comment: "The problem seems to be that Australian winemakers (even today) feel pretty well entitled to call their wine whatever they like in order to sell it. "
Best, Bob
RE: "Shiraz" in Australia
From: Robert Ross (
robcurtross@hotmail.com)
Sent: Sun 10/14/07 12:24 PM
To: David Dunstan (
daviddunstan@bearpurt.com); Bob Ross (
robcurtross@hotmail.com)
Dear John,
Thanks for an interesting email -- you've given me much to think about. In the meantime, I found a very interesting collection of articles bound into [apparently] a single volume. The Journal seems to be devoted to grape growers and winemakers -- there is a list of 20 or so members which is augmented by a handwritten list of a dozen or more others. There are some fascinating debates about prices, pests, etc. Both de Castella and Couslandt seem to be knowledgeable grape growers, so that one may conclude that "Shiraz" had some currency in Victoria in 1883.
In any event, de Castella used "Syra" and "Shiraz", one of the first uses of both words I've found in Australian sources.
1883: Journal: Victoria Board of Vinticulture. "If the Pinot of Burgundy, the Syra or Shiraz of Hermitage, the Carbenet of Bordeaux, and two or three more were eliminated, the reputation of those wines would be gone. Fortunately for Australia the founders of her wine industry were men of the world, who imported their plants from the districts of Europe producing the best wines. Their plantations were entirely composed of fine cépages, and these were gradually and almost exclusively propagated all over the colonies—an invaluable boon for the future. At the present moment the red grapes above mentioned are the most cultivated in Australia, especially the Syra of Hermitage, a most valuable cépage." Paper read at Royal Colonial Institute, London, by Hubert [Paul?] de Castella. [St. Hubert]
Also in this paper: "The Government of the Cape Colony, as I find from South African blue-books, has secured the services of an able viticulturist from Germany, Baron Carl von Babo, who has been, placed in charge of the famous Coustantia Estate, now a viticultural school. A few yearß hence a transformation may be expected in the production of that colony, whose wine industry dates from 1653. Baron von Babo, in his last report, advocates wines of light colour, of little spirit, and much bouquet; and recommends the cultivation of fine vines, particularly that of the Syra of Hermitage." Paper read at Royal Colonial Institute, London, by Hubert [Paul?] de Castella. [St. Hubert]
1883: Journal: Victoria Board of Vinticulture. From our limited observations it would appear that the following grapes are those which are most addicted to the Oidiuin—viz., the Black Spanish, the Black Hambro', Shiraz or Hermitage, Red Moscatel, Black Moscatel, White Moscatel or Frontignan, and Yellow Safrina. F. COUSLANDT, Chateau Tahbilk Vineyard.
Also, I found another Scyras reference:
1852: Australia as it is: Its Settlements, Farms, and Gold Fields, by Francis Lancelott. Excellent wine has been made in the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria from the following varieties: for red wine, Scyras, Malbec, Carbenet, Grenache, Carignan, and the Pineau-gris ; for white wine, La Folle, Aucarot, the Tokays, and the Verdeilho.
***
This has been a very interesting bit of research -- I hadn't realized how rich the history of wine is in the three wine producing states, and really how different it seems to be. I've been able to find a copy of your book at a used book dealer here, and expect it in a couple of days.
I'm also very impressed with how much information one can obtain from Google books, with new volumes coming on line daily. I'm using a neat little program called zotero to collect the various references.
I'm off to re-read and reflect on your letter. Thank you so much. Regards, Bob
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 04:04:08 -0700
From:
daviddunstan@bearpurt.comTo:
robcurtross@hotmail.comSubject: Re: "Shiraz" in Australia
Dear Bob,
I use the State Library of Victoria and the National Library of Australia. The SLV, in particular, is a remarkable digest of 19th century literature on wine and everything else. The British Library should also be an important source for you as well. Their catalogues are available on line. Books and newspapers and manuscripts are still my main sources as a C19th historian.
What is important here is surely industry and public acceptance of a common terminology. When did it occur? I suspect only quite recently and even now not completely across the world. Globalisation and wine. When? An interesting one.
With shiraz (capitalised or lower case?) we may ask:
When did Australian vignerons and others identify it as an important variety? (I think quite early, time of Blaxland and the Hunter Valley Vignerons of the 1830-40s)
So when did it become important to identify it correctly as a grape and as a wine (Again, I think quite early, in which case it can have a number of synonyms for everyday and commercial use).
But when did Australians hit upon a common identifier? (Harder to answer because of the geographical and political differences of the three colonies that produced wine in quantity (Vic,SA and NSW) and the general confusion of what to call the variety in territory other than its celebrated one of origin, e.g. Hermitage). The trade to this day exults in a multiplicity of confusing names for wine - just look at the D'Arenberg labels.
Are writers (Tovey, Vizetelly, Wilkinson and others) really to be regarded as law givers in this instance? I don't think so.
Another complicating factor is the European disinclination to identify varieties. You cite Scyras but what did they (the French or anyone else) really call the variety, if anything? Isn't Scyras sort a technical term nobody usues in real life? Shiraz and Scyras: both are variations of the same thing like anglicised versions of Russian or Chinese words, Peking/Beijing.
Yet another point that should be made is the that French progressively (from the late C19th on) grew annoyed at the use by Australians and others of generic descriptors of wine regarded by the French as place names and originators of special styles of wine (notwithstanding, the fact that it prostituted them itself, e.g. Burgundy made from Mediterranean and Algerian wine and sold to the British).
The most pertinent in this instance for us is Hermitage but there were others (again Bugundy - in Australia made from Shiraz - was the point at issue for France in the trade wars NOT (French) Shiraz or Hermitage. Legal and international disputation from the time of the Treaty of Madrid (1891 from memory).This is an issue that can hardly be set aside from yours. Continues until 1984 and Australian aquiescence to EEC standards on generic descriptors.
best wishes,
David
On 13/10/2007, David Dunstan <daviddunstan@bearpurt.com> wrote:
Dear Bob Ross,
This is a very useful speculation/investigation and I am surprised that it does not seem to have been done before. I cannot offer an immediate reaction. All those terms you cite were current in the C19th and there is the complicating factor of the variety being known as Hermitage. It would be useful to trawl through the major C19th Australian authorities. Most of my work has involved these and C19th newspapers. The show records are also interesting and I can go back to some of those with a bit of time. The problem seems to be that Australian winemakers (even today) feel pretty well entitled to call their wine whatever they like in order to sell it.
with best wishes,
David Dunstan
also at Monash University
david.dunstan@arts.monash.edu.au
) that I may break into this month for the 'wine focus'.