Tintara

{{Short description|Winery in McLaren Vale, South Australia}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} '''Tintara''' is an Australian winery located in McLaren Vale, South Australia within the McLaren Vale wine region. The winery was established in 1861 and incorporated in the 1862 as the '''Tintara Vineyard Company''' by Alexander Kelly, a medical physician and winemaker who wrote the early Australian winemaking and viticultural text ''Winegrowing in Australia'' and ''The Vine in Australia''. Several prominent figures in the early history of South Australia and McLaren Vale were initial investors in the winery including the founder of the University of Adelaide, Walter Watson Hughes, landowner Samuel Davenport and politician Thomas Elder.<ref name="Beeston">J. Beeston ''"Concise History of Australian Wine"'' p. 74 Third Edition Allen & Unwin 2001 {{ISBN|1-86508-547-2}}</ref> Today the winery holds the distinction of producing the oldest surviving bottle of Australian wine—an 1867 Tintara Vineyard claret. The Tintara wine earned the distinction when the previous record holder, an 1864 bottle of Pewsey Vale Cabernet Sauvignon, was accidentally broken by an office cleaner at Christie's auction house.<ref name="Miscellany pg 28">G. Harding ''"A Wine Miscellany"'' p. 28, Clarkson Potter Publishing, New York 2005 {{ISBN|0-307-34635-8}}</ref><ref name="AAP">AAP ''"[http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-72033496.html Australia's oldest bottle of wine returns]{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}"'' Associated Australian Press, 24 February 2003</ref><ref name="Fine wine">J. Halliday ''"[http://www.finewinemag.com/docs/20HallidayShiraz.pdf The History of Shiraz in Australia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711003747/http://www.finewinemag.com/docs/20HallidayShiraz.pdf |date=11 July 2011 }}"'' ''The World of Fine Wine''Issue #20 p. 91 2008</ref>

==History== [[File:Centenary Exhibition Showing Food Produce Centennial Hall - Wayville(GN06612).jpg|thumb|Centenary Exhibition at Centennial Hall in Wayville showing food produce, ca. 1936]] Dr. '''Alexander Charles Kelly''', MD LRCS (5 June 1811 – 9 October 1877) was born in Dunbar, Scotland and qualified at Edinburgh in 1832. He emigrated to South Australia aboard ''Baboo'', arriving in March 1840. In May 1841 he was appointed to the Adelaide Hospital as honorary medical officer,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27442445 |title=The Adelaide Hospital |newspaper=South Australian Register |location=South Australia |date=8 May 1841 |accessdate=21 June 2017 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> then in 1846 was sent to London to lecture on emigration to the Colony, returning aboard ''Lady Macnaghten'' in October 1847 and settled at Morphett Vale.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article54271882 |title=Notes & Queries |newspaper=The Register (Adelaide) |volume=XCII |issue=26,753 |location=South Australia |date=16 May 1927 |accessdate=20 June 2017 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Being intrigued at the potential for grape growing in the McLaren Vale, he planted in 1845 the first vines in the area, naming the vineyard "Trinity". His medical practice now took a distant second place to his interest in viticulture and oenology.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207576914 |title=General News |newspaper=The Express and Telegraph |volume=XIV |issue=4,115 |location=South Australia |date=10 October 1877 |accessdate=21 June 2017 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In 1854 he married Annie Frances Worthington; their son John George Kelly (1859–1947) would become a noted winemaker.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74656699 |title=Death of Widely Known Winemaker |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=12 June 1947 |accessdate=21 June 2017 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

In 1861 Kelly's book ''The Vine in Australia'' went on sale.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50017412 |title=Vine Cultivation |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XXV |issue=4558 |location=South Australia |date=27 May 1861 |accessdate=21 June 2017 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} The book went through multiple printings with several minor title changes, and at least two editions.</ref> That same year he established Tintara winery, one of the first commercial wineries in the McLaren Vale area, and in 1862 founded Tintara Vineyard Company with prominent South Australian investors Thomas Elder, Samuel Davenport and Walter Hughes. The initial planting included 210 acres (85 hectares) and was followed with a second wave of plantings in 1864. Among the grape varieties planted were Mataro (Mourvèdre), Shiraz, Grenache and Carignan. In 1863 he sold "Trinity" to concentrate on the Tintara business.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31829333 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |volume=VI |issue=1639 |location=South Australia |date=26 October 1863 |accessdate=20 June 2017 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Around 1871 Kelly entered into a three-year contract with P. B. Burgoyne, later extended another year, to take on the business of importing and bottling Tintara wines for the British market,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article53448487 |title=Out among the People |newspaper=The Register News-pictorial |volume=XCIV |issue=27,479 |location=South Australia |date=10 September 1929 |accessdate=15 December 2018 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> working from offices and cellars at 50 Old Broad Street.

Around August 1877 Thomas Hardy purchased the property and {{convert|27000|impgal|kl}} of wine from Kelly. He also purchased a nearby flour mill, with the intention of adapting it for wine production.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197703832 |title=Latest News |newspaper=Evening Journal (Adelaide) |volume=IX |issue=2641 |location=South Australia |date=7 September 1877 |accessdate=20 June 2017 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Around 1888 Thomas Hardy's company became Thomas Hardy & Sons (later Hardy Wine Company, now part of the Accolade Wines portfolio).<ref name="Beeston"/>

==Oldest surviving bottle of Australian wine== Tintara Winery is currently the producer of the oldest surviving bottle of Australia wine. The bottle, a Bordeaux style blend labeled as a claret, dates back to the 1867 vintage. Its existence was previously unknown until it resurfaced in the 1970s. In 1977, the wine was sold to a private collector by Sotheby's auction house.<ref name="Miscellany pg 28"/> In 2003 the Hardy Wine Company, owners of Tintara Winery and now in the Accolade Wines portfolio, purchased the bottle for an undisclosed five-figure sum.<ref name="AAP"/>

It became the oldest bottle of Australian wine following the accidental destruction of the previous record holder, an 1864 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from Pewsey Vale.<ref name="Miscellany pg 28"/> That bottle was owned by winemaker and collector Len Evans who purchased the wine in the 1970s. Evans left the wine in care of then Christie's senior director of wine, Michael Broadbent, for safe keeping. While at Christie's in Broadbent's office, an office cleaner accidentally knocked over the bottle while dusting, causing it to fall and break on the floor.<ref name="Fine wine"/>

==Modern wine production== right|thumb|Grenache is among the grape varieties that Tintara continues to produce wine from. Today, Tintara Winery is a brand in the Accolade Wines portfolio. The winery is located in the McLaren Vale wine region with the vineyard influenced by the climate and geography of the nearby Gulf St Vincent and Mount Lofty Ranges. Among the wines currently produced by Tintara are varietal bottlings of Shiraz, Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon as well as blended wines.<ref>Tintara Wines ''"[http://www.tintara.com.au/home.htm About us] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815011645/http://www.tintara.com.au/home.htm |date=15 August 2009 }}"'' Accessed: 4 January 2010.</ref>

==See also== {{portal||South Australia|Wine}} *Australian wine *Cult wine *South Australian wine *List of wineries in the Barossa Valley

==References== {{reflist}}

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Category:Wineries in McLaren Vale Category:1861 establishments in Australia Category:Food and drink companies established in 1861