RSArchive: liquid legacy

_{^{Above: The RSA House vaults in use as a wine cellar before the 1988–90 refurbishment}}

Summary

Many Fellows may not be aware of the pivotal role the RSA has played in shaping the modern wine trade across America, South Africa, Australia and England. From 1758, the Society offered incentives and prizes for wine production, encouraging vine planting and improved wine quality. In this article, Fellow and wine expert Jerry Lockspeiser discusses the evolution of global wine industries, the rise of English vineyards and the impact global warming will have on the future of wine production. 

Reading time

Three minutes

How the RSA encouraged the development of the modern wine world across America, South Africa and Australia – and England.

Before the refurbishment of RSA House in 1990, wines were stored in its 18th century vaults. Fittingly, and perhaps surprisingly to some, the Society played a significant role in stimulating the forebears of the modern wine trade.

Notes from the 1887 AGM included in the June 1887 edition of the Journal of the Society of Arts state that the Society “has devoted very special attention to the development of the colonies, and to increase their trade with the mother country” and indicate that encouragement was being given across a range of agricultural and manufacturing sectors. In America, South Africa and Australia this included incentives to encourage the planting of vines, later followed by prizes for improving the quality of the wines they produced.

The first prize for wine appeared in 1758, when £100 was promised for “five tuns of good wine made at a plantation in any colony, provided that one tun was imported to London”. The winner in 1763 was prominent American politician and plantation owner Charles Carter of Virginia, some of whose descendants still make wines today at the Philip Carter Winery.

In 1823, according to notes from the 1887 AGM, a gold medal was offered “in an attempt to foster the growth of the vine at the Cape” (now South Africa). Won by international trader Francis Collinson, his wine was examined in London “at the Committee by dealers and other competent judges [and considered] far superior to the Cape wines in general”.

Australian award

In Australia, pioneering viticulturist Geoffrey Blaxland planted a vineyard at Parramatta in 1816. Less than 10 years later, in 1823, he won the Society’s first Australian award, also the first international medal given to an Australian wine. As was then typical for wines transported across long distances, Blaxland’s was cut with 10% brandy “to enable it to bear the voyage”.

Blaxland played a key role in the birth of Australian wine, experimenting with different grape varieties to find those resistant to ‘blight’ (known today as anthracnose), sharing his findings with the Society and others. His medal-winning wine was made from the variety he found to be most resistant: Small Black Cluster – what we now know as Pinot Noir, the famous grape of Burgundy.

European vines suitable for making wine travelled the world with the expansion of trade. Many were taken from Europe to be grown in England, then on to other destinations. Boats en route to Australia collected vines while docking at the Cape or the Atlantic islands of Tenerife and Madeira.

_{^{Above: The James A Stuart designed gold medal}}

Economic and population expansion fuelled by the Gold Rush and supported by steam age rail and shipping powered growth in the Australian wine industry from the 1860s. But government regulation, wars, plant diseases and the vine-destroying, aphid-like insect phylloxera sent it into reverse, as also happened in the US and South Africa.

Grape growth

By 1945, wine was at a low ebb in all three former colonies. But post-war and, eventually, post-Apartheid globalisation saw it rise to new heights. The flow of technological ideas, finance and trade transformed both wine industry growth and consumer tastes. Today, Australia is by far the largest supplier of wine to the UK (South Africa is currently sixth, the US is seventh).

In England, too, the wine industry leapt forward. In 1973, there were about 240 acres of vines across England. Today, there are 10,000 across England and Wales (with the vast majority still in England). While this quantity remains very small compared to major producing countries, defeating top Champagnes in recent tasting competitions testifies to the quality of the best English sparkling wine.

And perhaps not for the first time. In 1952, Major-General Sir Guy Salisbury-Jones founded Britain’s oldest existing commercial vineyard at Hambledon in Hampshire. In a 1973 address to the RSA, he cited Surrey vineyard owner Charles Hamilton claiming in 1789, with no little hubris, that “it would be endless to state how many good judges of wine were deceived by my wine, and thought it superior to any Champagne they ever drank”.

Today, Champagne companies are buying land in England. Global warming threatens the viability of production in the ‘new world’. After decades of rising consumption of wine since its popularisation in the 1970s, the UK’s favourite alcoholic drink is now experiencing a serious decline in sales. With wine seemingly entering another new phase, perhaps the RSA’s encouragement of the sector will be needed again.

Read some of the archival documents cited in this article.

Jerry Lockspeiser, FRSA, is a wine business entrepreneur, writer for Harpers Wine & Spirit, Director of Positive News, and Chairman of North South Wines. He has written two books on wine and one on his other passion, running.

This article was first published in RSA Journal Issue 4 2024.