The London market for Australian wines 1851–1901: a South Australian perspective

Abstract

Following a survey of the wine industry in South Australia in the period 1858–1876 to provide the necessary back‐drop (Bell, 1993), this paper attempts to answer the criticisms levelled against colonial wines by Thudichum and Dupré (1872). It takes the form of a detailed discussion of events following publication of their Treatise, and the success of colonial wines at the Vienna exhibition of 1873 (when Thudichum placed his views before a discriminating audience through the medium of the The Times newspaper). The narrative is brought into relief by an examination of the quantities of Australian wine imported into Britain both before and after publication of the Treatise, and again in light of commercial treaties between Britain and her trading partners. The initiatives taken by several individuals to promote the wines of South Australia serve to explain that colony's dominant position in the market for colonial wines by the turn of the century.