THE TRADITION CONTINUES

Bordering St.Vincents Gulf, 40 kms south of Adelaide. Amery Vineyards grace the rolling foothills of the southern Mt. Lofty ranges. The climate is warm and temperate with a cool moist winter and warm dry summer and the proximity of the sea ensures that frost, which is a debilitating agent in many viticultural areas, is virtually unknown. The vineyard receives a rainfall of approximately 550mm a year and excellent vines are grown on a wide range of soils, the predominant being ironstone gravel.

In the early 1850’s Richard Baker Aldersley bought several sections of land 6 kms north of the McLaren Vale in a hilly area near Hope Farm (Seaview). He built a fine ironstone house and named the property “Amery”, after his birthplace “Amery Farm” near Alton, in Hampshire England. The land was partly cleared during his tenure and when Aldersley died in 1857 he was buried in a tiny cemetery on the estate in accordance with his stated wish to:

“Lie where the curlews cry and the sheoaks sigh.”

Amery was acquired by William Hammond junior. Whose father owned the adjacent Hambledon Farm where he settled after leaving his sugar plantation in Jamaica. In 1998 young William Hammond planted the original seven acres of vineyards at Amery, but for the main part he ran the 339 acre property as a farm, raising cattle and sheep, cereal crops, soft fruits and vegetables. In 1890 the Amery property was bought by the Kay Brothers, Herbert and Frederick, and they finally came into possession on February 2 nd 1891, as is noted in the diary commenced that day:

“Entered into possession at Amery.

Secton 514,515, 516 & 740

Rose, Bert and Fred arrived about 6.30 (Rose was the sister)

Stock- Brown Horse “Darkie”

4 swarms of bees

6 hens

Furniture per M. Webers wagon 9.45”

Five months later is the following information: Thursday 23 rd July “ Carted 3 dray loads of vine cuttings from Tintara; 25800 Shiraz, 5000 Riesling, 10000 Cabernet.” Friday 24 th July – “Began planting in fallow paddock – planted 452 Shiraz.” There is a meticulously kept diary for every year that the Kay family has been at Amery. They give not only detailed vintage records and weather information, but also a host of day to day insights into the tremendous physical effort people put into working and living in those early days.

These are examples taken:

On Friday 15 th July 1892 they recorded: “W.H. Carven offered to supply Cabernet and Malbec cuttings at 10/- per thousand”Tuesday 19 th July –“T. Hardy called – agreed to buy 900 white Hermitage vines from him.” Wednesday 20 th July – “Ordered from W.H. Craven at 7/- per thousand 14,500 Cabernet and 13,000 Malbec cuttings. J.G. Kelly called, agreed to take 3,000 Riesling cuttings.”

Monday 25 th July –“ Planted 457 white Hermitage on the hilltop.”

Thursday 28 th July –“T. Hardy sent up to 90 white Hermitage vines (2 years old).”

When you read through the diaries you begin to realise what it meant in back breaking labour and sweat to clear the land and plant out vineyards as there were no tractors and no bulldozers – jut the horse, the plough, the spade and the crowbar. Not only did the two brothers do all the vineyard clearing and planting themselves, they also milked the cows, looked after their workhorses, planted other crops and built all the other equipment as necessary.

On the eastern slope, away from the house, they built their cellars using the design of a model exhibited by J.G. Kelly at the 1887 Chamber of Manufacturers Exhibition, planned as a winery making full use of natural gravitation. This was ideal for the period when hand pumps were the rule. The crushers were in the top level, lower down were the fermenting tanks, and below this the storage area. Steam pumps were in use in some wineries but Kay’s rejected them because the need for boilers made them too expensive. The cellars were dug into the hillside, and the ceilings were insulated with seaweed for extra cooling.

The windery was completed in 1895 with the first load of grapes being crushed on March 8 th, as the diary notes:

“Finish picking in windmill paddock 4-3/4 cwt Shiraz and ¾ Cabernet

Began picking blocks 25 & 8-1 cwt Shiraz; 1 cwt Cabernet, 7 ½ cwt Mataro. Crushed first cask of grapes”

In just 4 years the Kay Brothers had planted 100 acres of vines, built a winery and produced their first 9,100 litres of wine – quite an achievement in such a short space of time.

Their first vintages were crushed with a hand crusher ( a wooden roller with protruding spikes),and then by horse power, with a horse walking around a capstan which turned the crusher. Their first thoughts of exporting were in 1897, when it is recorded in the diary on 29 th April, “H. Kay took samples of Amery No.1 (1896 Cabernet) and Amery No.2 (1896 Blend) to J.G. Kelly to take to England.”The first Amery bottlings took place in November 1898, with twenty six dozen bottles of an 1896 wine. In August the following year they sent six bottles of 1897 Frontignac to the Adelaide show. In August 1900 they bottled four dozen pints of the 1896 Burgundy under an Amery label.

By 1911 there was 123 acres of vineyard at Amery and they bought additional grapes from local growers, vintaging 230,000 litres. In 1926 they were making 340,000 litres, tw0 thirds of the which was called “London Blend” and went for export. They also made quantities of dry white and sweet wine. In 1927 a newspaper article mentioned Amery as making “Australian Burgundy, a full bodied dry wine, for which the district is eminently suitable. No spirit is added the fermentation is a natural process. The local consumption, however is restricted, as Australians seem to prefer the sweet wine. The Burgundy is sold wholesale, and is used for blending and to raise the tone of other varieties.”

Herbert Kay was Chairman of the Australian Wine Board for twelve years from 1933. He died in 1948 one year after Frederick. The Kay Brothers had been partners in business for fifty-seven years, which is a remarkable record on the Australian wine making scene. Herbert’s son Cuthbert (Cud) Kay took over the management and winemaking at Amery and increased the vineyards, concentrating on more Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Riesling with some smaller acres of Sauvignon Blanc and white Frontignac.

The Riesling were the first true to variety in the area an some of the older traditional winemakers of the district were prophetic of failure; time happily has proved to the contrary and today outstanding vines are still being made from this variety. (The Riesling recorded in the diary of 1891 were, in fact, mainly the variety we know as Chenin Blanc.)

In the 1960’s changes occurred in the British market and that coupled with uneconomic prices let to the development of the Australian markets for the winery output; initially this was in bulk to other winemakers but progressively more and more wine was packaged until today all the output is sold under the Kays Amery Vineyards label.

Cud’s eldest son Colin, after finishing the Oenology course at Roseworthy College, spent four years with George Kolarovich at Kaiser Stuhl Winery in the Barossa Valley. From there he went overseas for three years on a trip which took him around the world, visiting most the great wine producing countries. Colin became winemaker in 1970, further refining the styles pioneered by his father and adding Pinot Noir to the vineyard.

The comprehensive range of McLaren Vale varietal wines made by Colin Kay form the Kays Amery vineyards includes “Block 6 Shiraz (from vines planed in 1892). Hillside Shiraz, Amery Shiraz, Amery Cabernet Sauvignon, Amery Merlot, Amery Late Harvest Frontignac, “Founders” Liquer Muscat and “Founders” very old Tawny Solera.

The relatively small, strictly regional estate of Kay Brothers and their Amery Vineyards has an enviable record in wine shows in Australia and Internationally, which attests to the consistent high quality of is excellent wines.

As Ernest Whitington wrote in 1903. “If any people engaged in the industry deserve success they are the Kay Brothers, who have been at Amery for 12 years. The property is situated on the Vale side of Tinatra, and the view from the house is on the of the finest in South Australia. Looking towards Tintara the valley and hillsides are literally covered in vines, and at the time of my visit the autumnal tints fo the leaves enhanced the beauty of the scene. Encircling behind are the wooded hills, and the away the dreamy distance is a blue haze covered range. Turn around and you are gazing over vineas and ploughed land away to the sea. You see Aldinga Bay quite plainly. When I go the Amery and the exquisite landscape, the labout which seeds to be one of the love, and the comtemtmnet that prevails over recalls one verse form Gray’s Elegy:

“Far for the madding crowd’s ignoble strife

Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray.

Along the cool sequester’d vale of life

They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.”