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Winemaking in the Hastings |
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The town of Port Macquarie, which was established as one of Australia’s first penal settlements in 1821, is located at the mouth of the Hastings River, where it meets the Pacific Ocean some 400km north of Sydney on the East Coast of Australia. The Hastings River region extends inland in a westerly direction from Port Macquarie some 150 kilometres. Henry Fancourt White, a Colonial Assistant Surveyor who took up a government post in Port Macquarie in 1836, is believed to have planted the first vines in the Hastings River region in 1837. This vineyard was known as “Clifton” and was planted on land he purchased near Settlement Farm, just a few kilometres from the Pacific Ocean. Fancourt White sold his vineyards and a portion of his land to Mr William Stokes in 1839 who acquired additional land and expanded vineyard plantings and winemaking facilities. Stokes also had a distillation still for making brandy. Other vineyards had been developed in the Hastings River region during this time. Major Archibald Clunes Innes had established a substantial vineyard on his property at Lake Innes in Port Macquarie. Major Innes purchased the “Clifton” vineyard off Stokes in 1849 and used German vine-dressers to look after the vineyard which, as a result, was a very successful vineyard. By 1867, there were many vineyards and two of the best known were Douglas Vale and Fernhill. George Francis, who was owner and vigneron at Douglas Vale concentrated on the Isabella grape and developed one of the finest vineyards in the Hastings River region. His wines were exhibited in Bordeaux at the Colonial and Indian exhibition, in London, in Amsterdam and in Calcutta where he won medals and commendations. Other vineyards were established at Woodgrove, Glebe, Hibbard, Ballengarra, Tuffins Lane, Five Mile Hollow, Thrumster and Tacking Point. In the 1890’s there were some 33 winery/vineyards established in the Hastings River region. The development of the rail link Sydney to Wauchope 1907 led to the demise of the coastal shipping industry and the ability for the Hastings River Wine Industry to deliver this wine product. The general economic depression during and after the first world war led to a cessation of the wine industry in the Hastings River region although grape growing continued for jam-making until the early-mid 1950’s. In 1977 as a 21 year old undergraduate at Roseworthy Agricultural College studying winemaking, John Cassegrain began to research the wine producing potential of the land his family owned in the Hastings River region, as well as other regions in New South Wales. John Cassegrain had an interest in winemaking since his teenage years as a result of visiting his families relatives in France whom had been involved in the wine and cognac industry for over four centuries. John’s mother, nee Countess Francoise de Solere, is a descendant of a family which traces its lineage to the 10th century and had wine estates in the Piedmont regions of Northern Italy before Count Luce de Solere moved to Burgundy in 1803. John’s uncle, Count Jacques Burignot de Varenne, is a descendant and current director of Augier Freres, which was founded in 1643, making it Cognac’s oldest producer. To satisfy John’s initial interest in winemaking, John commenced as a cellarhand at Tyrrells Winery in the Hunter Valley in 1974 and worked each vintage there through until 1983, when he was acting as consultant winemaker. John completed his 3 year Oenology degree at Roseworthy in 1978 and then spent vintage in 1979 in Burgundy working at Domaine De La Folie in Rully. In 1980 John went to The University of Davis in California to present a thesis on natural fermentation, a subject he had specialised in at Roseworthy. In that same year, following extensive research into soils and climate, the Cassegrain family planted its first vines in the Hastings River region in an area known as Chain-O-Ponds which surrounds the site where the winery is today. The grapes planted were not the Isabella variety, which was favoured by the early vignerons of the Hastings River region, but the classic varieties used in France including Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and an exciting, relatively new variety, Chambourcin. Today there are over 450 acres of vineyards in the Hastings River region and is on the way to becoming recognised again as one of Australia’s premium grape growing regions. Copyright ©2005 Cassegrain Wines Pty Ltd, 764 Fernbank Creek Rd, Port Macquarie NSW 2444 |