WINE MAKERS   

Researched and compiled by GORDON FREEGARD September 2022
Acknowledging information gathered from an article written by Jenny Keast (date unknown)
on behalf of the Kalamunda and  Districts Historical Society

WINES, VINES AND VIGNERONS OF THE KALAMUNDA AREA

Although the commercial vineyard is a modern phenomenon in the Kalamunda area, wine making is by no means a new interest. Many of the early settlers made wine and won prizes at various agricultural shows. Two of the earliest settlers to produce wine were Zanetta and the Arduino brothers, who, in about 1893, took up land near the present Cotherstone Road. Although few records of them remain they were known to be there until at least 1910.

The ‘Arcadian Ramblings’ of the Swan Express, 1901, show that the first Zig of the upward journey to Kalamunda by rail, was named Grape Siding. One solitary wine grew there, the seed perhaps thrown from a train window by a grape eating settler.
 

CHARLES BROOKS            #1

With the aid of Charles Brooks, the Dean of Perth, the Right Reverend Goldsmith planted wines on land he bought, early in the 1900’s, opposite the Stirk’s farm in Kalamunda. When the Dean came to inspect his land, he would dine with Brooks and provide the wine. According to Brooks the vineyard was a failure. This was probably due to the lack of soil for the deep-rooted vines.
 

   BROOK'S STORE, KALAMUNDA        #2
 

Jacob Schmitt of Hock Heim, just a stone’s throw from the centre of Kalamunda on what is now Mundaring Road, had more success with wine, winning prizes at the Royal Show at Guildford.

In 1895 the Darling Range Vine and Fruit Growers Association was formed by Mead and Farrant. The association was mainly used to give the land owners of the area a formal venue to express their opinions of the needs of the area. However, in the early 1900’s, Archibald Sanderson, who had spent nine months in the Bordeaux district of France, offered his knowledge of viticulture to the local vignerons.

With the advent of the Italians into the area in the 1920’s wine production increased as one of the first things to be planted was a row of wine grapes. Louis Zola, who was the mechanic cum blacksmith at Bartons Mill made wine from grapes grown there. He told people he added copper pennies to the wine to make it stronger but in fact it was to remove the hydrogen sulphide (rotten egg) smell, common in poorly made wine.

As a lot of the properties had not been completely cleared there were many birds in the bush, including the very destructive Silvereye, or ‘Greenie’, and a large proportion of the grapes were lost. However, grapes from the Swan Valley could be bought and these were used to produce some of the wine. The wine was made in the traditional manner with all the children in the neighbourhood stamping and sploshing in the concrete crushing tanks until all the juice was extracted.

JACOB SCHMITT            #3
 

SCHMITT FAMILY HOME "HOCK HEIM" 1900c            #4
CHARLES, GEORGE, ANNIE, BERT, VERA & HUBERT
 

Primo Ubinatti, of Pickering Brook, always used ‘Kid Power’ but some wine makers later bought wooden hand operated crushers. From the crushers, the grapes were placed into the pressing vats. The pressings (juices) were then siphoned into large wooden or concrete fermenting vats and left for up to three weeks. There were often two pressings, one for a light wine and the second for the heavy dark red wine. When the fermentation was finished the wine was siphoned into barrels and then cellared for a few months before putting into flagons.
 

 PRIMO UBINATTI          #5
 

Frank Furfaro, of Pickering Brook, remembers his father making five barrels of wine which he left under a fig tree for a year, after which time he decided they would be no good because they had not been kept at a reasonably controlled temperature. He had a sip, thought it not too bad then added two bottles or rum to each barrel. He then thought they were pretty good! Of course, it was not unknown for a seasons wine to turn to vinegar!

  FRANK FURFARO         #6
 

Renata Wansbrough, nee Tenardi, of Pickering Brook, can remember the method used by her father to produce very good claret. They bought their Shiraz grapes from Lamont’s in Hardill Road, Upper Swan. They always waited until the grapes were on the point of shrivelling, slightly over ripe, before picking them. The family threw a party for the grape crushing and groups of five or six men with clean bare feet would crush the grapes whilst sampling the previous year’s vintage. When all the juice was released it was allowed to ferment for three days before being removed from the tank, through the tap at the bottom. The remaining must was dug into the orchard. The wine was run off into casks and allowed to stand for two or three days. This timing had to be exact as too little time meant the wine was sour and too long meant the wine was too strong. To clear the wine and to stop it fermenting, beaten egg white was spread on the top. This was taken off after twenty-four hours and the wine siphoned into a clean barrel and the process repeated until the wine was perfectly clear and had stopped bubbling. It was then left for six months before bottling.

Renata’s mother made Marsalla Al’ Uova with some of the wine but insisted that it was for medicinal purposes only. Here is the method; take ten eggs in shells and cover them with pure fresh lemon juice. When the shell and eggs have dissolved, about forty-eight hours, add enough sugar to sweeten the juice. Pour enough wine into the egg mix to bring it back to a wine consistency. Bottle and leave for three months.

John Hanbury, of Carmel, was brought up on a property at Karragullen where vines grew extensively. His father, Clem, supplied wine to most of the area until he met a man named Dunn, a Seventh Day Adventist, who loaned him a book on the beliefs of the sect. Clem was impressed and became an Adventist too, immediately upending his barrels of wine into the orchard. The men of Karragullen were understandable very upset.

Peter Arasi of Bartons Mill Road planted three hundred vines in 1979 and now produces about five hundred bottles of Muscat wine, which is almost a sherry but no quite! His vines are beautifully maintained and are summer pruned, to allow the sun and air to do their best for the grapes. Summer vines look most attractive. Summer pruning to the degree Peter Arasi does it, is not seen in the larger commercial vineyards.  Nothing was wasted in the wine making process – the pressings were put through a still and made into grappa and then the resulting ‘mush’ was sometimes fed to the chickens. This practise once led to the seventy chickens belonging to Rina Altinier becoming utterly drunk and thus missing a days lay. In the larger vineyards of Europe even more is extracted from the end results. The grape pips are separated and ground up and treated with a solvent to obtain the grape oil, which forms about 10% of their weight. Poor quality oil is sent to the soap factory.
 

 MARY ARASI PICKING GRAPES 1989          #7
 

 ARASI VINEYARD          #8
 

   MARY & PETER ARASI PRESSING GRAPES 1979        #9
 

ARASI FERMENTING BARRELS            #10
 

Of course, chickens were not the only thing to feel the effects of the wine. The Italians have a couple of games in which wine drinking plays an important part. One game involves a pack of cards from which certain cards are nominated to be the skolling cards. The player who plays that card has to drink a glass of wine. No other wine is drunk so if your cards are running well, depending on how you look at it, you either end up completely senseless or don’t have a drink all night. Another game is played with two players, one of whom is the ‘boss’. The boss has to flick out his fingers, e.g. one or two, while the other player tries to flick out the same number. This can be a very fast game but usually ends up with much the same results as the other one!
 

THE NEW VIGNERONS AND WINEMAKERS

The first commercial vineyard to be planted in the Bickley area was on land in Aldersyde Road owned by the Boyanich and Bray families. Before they planted grapes, they tried making pear Perry Wine but decided not to continue with this when their first batch ate its way out of the forty-four gallon drums and took the top layer off the concrete floor of their packing shed! It is only fair to say that the wine they are now producing is superb and has won many prizes. The first grapes were planted in 1974.

The varieties planted were Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Only red wine is made. The winery was originally called Woodhenge and was run by a syndicate of doctors and scientists from the Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre at Subiaco. It was called Woodhenge because the rows of posts used to train the vines looked like ‘Stonehenge in wood!’ However, the winery is now run by the owners, Dana Bray and her brother Ray Boyanich who have renamed the winery Piesse Brook. The original wine maker, Brian Murphy is still making Piesse Brook wine.
 

PIESSE BROOK VINEYARD            #11

BRAY & BOYANICH PIESSE BROOK VINEYARD           #12
 

CRUSHING GRAPES AT  PIESSE BROOK VINEYARD          #13
 

POURING PRESSINGS AT PIESSE BROOK VINEYARD           #14
 

Half an acre of Hermitage grapes were planted at Robertson Road, Gooseberry Hill in 1974 by Robert Duncan. Peter Fimmel of Hainault Winery is his winemaker. About twenty-five cases of wine are produced for this tiny Scarp Valley winery and most is for their own consumption.

By far the largest vineyard to date is at Hainault, Walnut Road, Bickley, owned by Peter and Helen Fimmel. Hainault is, at 400 metres, the highest vineyard in Western Australia. The name Hainault came from the Fimmel family’s farm at Harvey. Planting began in 1979 with three white varieties and was followed by three reds in 1981. The varieties planted are Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Semillon, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Franc. The first bottling for the winery was in 1980 when wine was made from grapes bought from the Frankland River region of WA. The winery now makes about 17,500 cases of wine a year and has won many awards for its outstanding wine.

PETER FIMMEL           #15
 

HAINAULT WINE LABELS            #16
 

HAINAULT WINE LABELS            #17
 

 LAWNBROOK VINEYARD          #18
 

In 1984 two small vineyards were established in Loaring Road, Bickley. One was planted by the Tieleman family at Lawnbrook. The varieties planted were Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Semillon. Only one vintage had been made, by Peter Fimmel, and subsequently the grapes have been sold to other winemakers

At Brookside, Loaring Road, Bickley, a small planting of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir produced wine for the Ort family who used it mainly for the various opening nights at the art gallery owned by Miss Ort. The winemaker was Peter Fimmel. The Orts sold the property in 1990 and the present owners are Alastair Kerr and family. He is a recent arrival from Scotland where he was a trained cooper for the whiskey trade. He intends making his own wine barrels.

 BROOKSIDE VINEYARD LABEL          #19
 

BROOKSIDE LOOKING TOWARDS LAWNBROOK           #20
 

Ashley Park, owned by John and Nova Ashley, was established in 1984 although the first vintage was not until 1989. The first planting was destroyed by the sheep and the second by drought. The third planting, of Pinot Noir, has produced the first wine, which is due to be bottled in January 1991. The winemaker was Peter Fimmel.

The newest vineyard to date is in Union Road, Carmel on land owned by Maxine, Rod and Anthony Sclanders. Named Cosham Estate, after Mrs Sclanders family, it had two acres planted in 1990. The varieties are Pinot Verdot, a rare vine for Australia but one which will influence the authentic Bordeaux type wine the winery hopes to produce. There has been no vintage as yet.

 BOTTLE BROOKSIDE WINE          #21
 

 ASHLEY PARK GRAPES BEING CRUSHED AT HAINAULT  1989          #22

As can be seen, the emerging viticultural pattern of the Kalamunda area is one of small vineyards producing elegant wines that are unique to the district. With the demise of fruit growing in some of the district it is to be hoped that viticulture will take its place as the next viable industry in the hills.

JOHN ASHLEY OF ASHLEY PARK VINEYARD AT HAINAULT           #23
 

Every endeavour has been made to accurately record the details however if you would like to provide additional images and/or newer information we are pleased to update the details on this site. Please use CONTACT at the top of this page to email us. We appreciate your involvement in recording the history of our area.

Reference:           Article:           Jenny Keast
                                               Gordon Freegard
                                            

                          Images:         Kalamunda & Districts Historical Society    1, 2, 3, 4, 20
                                               Gordon Freegard    5, 6
                                               Jenny Keast          7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23

Copyright : Gordon Freegard.   2008-2022