History of the Barossa Valley and Its Landscapes David Farmer Presented at the Wine Barossa media and trade Day, June 18th, 2008 David Farmer opened a wine shop in Canberra in June 1975, the start of a long term interest in liquor retailing with a focus from that time on wine, the most profitable and interesting part of the liquor trade. Visits have been made to many of the world’s wine regions and this exposure led to a developing interest in the unique differences of each region and how these physical differences might be related to the taste of the wine‐the debate about terroir. In the late 1990’s being dissatisfied about explanations of the origin of Coonawarra, David mapped the district and the paper ‘‘The Red Soils of Coonawarra’’ was published in the Wine Industry Journal in November‐December, 2002. This was a re‐awakening of a previous interest as David worked as a geologist for 10 years before entering the liquor business. Mapping is continuing on a major reappraisal of the Limestone Coast. In 2001 David commenced mapping the Barossa Valley which he visited 2 to 3 times a year before moving permanently to the Barossa in 2005. This project is unfinished but enough has been completed to propose a major re‐think of the landscape development of the Barossa Valley. A Highlight Summary of the Barossa Landscape 8. The idea of sub‐regionality while not new is 1. Many of the worlds wine regions have gaining pace with many wineries referring to developed on sediments that have a recent single vineyard sites and local district names. origin and were created by the melting of ice sheets that began about 18,000 years ago. Most General Information about the Barossa Valley are dated at less than 12,000 years old. Some of The Barossa Valley is a north east trending valley the vineyards of Argentine, Chile, New Zealand, extending about 36 kilometres from Williamstown and Oregon‐Washington are examples. Many at the southern end of the Lyndoch Valley to St. other European, New Zealand, and South Kitts Creek which closes off the northern end of American vineyards grow on landscapes that are the Barossa Valley. It is bounded by two ranges younger than 300,000 years with the main referred to here as the Western Ridge which is vineyards of Bordeaux being on terraces about part of the North Mount Lofty Ranges and the 1,000,000 years old. Eastern Range which is part of the South Mount 2. The Barossa Valley is unusual because of the Lofty Ranges. The southern extension of the great age of the land surfaces, some of which Eastern Range is also known as the Barossa Range. can be traced back to 200 million years ago. The ‘flat lying’ part of the Barossa Valley varies 3. The great age of the Barossa Valley has allowed from 2 (Lyndoch Valley) to 5 kilometres in width. numerous land surfaces to develop on a wide Along both sides, the slopes into the Valley are variety of underlying rocks and sediments dating covered with vines. Along the eastern edge this is from 200 million years to the present. mostly a simple slope off the Eastern Range but 4. The Valley part of the Barossa Valley began 35 along the Western Ridge vines are planted many million years ago and this Valley was filled over kilometres back into the slopes of the Range and the next 30 million years with a tiny sequence of often in well defined separate valleys such as sediments carried in by streams from the Seppeltsfield. Including these vineyards the width surrounding low relief landscape. of the Barossa Valley swells to 12 to 14 kilometres 5. On average the Valley filled with less than 100 at its widest. The greatest density of vines is metres of sediment giving a rate of deposition of however along the spine of the Valley floor. one millimetre per 30 years. 6. The landscape of the Barossa Valley today with In 2007 there were 10,250 ha planted to grapes in the major feature being the Eastern Range has the Barossa Valley, producing about 60,000 tonnes been created in the last 5 million years pa. Export statistics from the end of March 2008 7. The land surface of the Barossa Valley can be (AWBC) for the Moving Annual Total (MAT) show divided into 13 separate sub‐regions with that exports of Barossa branded bottled wines vineyards planted on 12 of these. These may or accounted for 28% of these grapes, exceeded 1.5 may not coincide with sub‐regions that wine million cases and were valued at $146.6 million, makers recognise as producing different tastes. giving an average price per 9 litre case of $97.73. Wine Barossa media and trade day 1 History of the Barossa Valley and Its Landscapes Figure 2. A depiction of a tropical Early Tertiary forest – the Barossa Valley 40 million years ago The Barossa and Sub‐Regionality In this paper I would like to present some early ideas from landscape mapping of the Barossa Valley that I have been doing over the last 6 years. This is the first time I have discussed this research. The idea of sub‐regionality in the Barossa goes back a long way but it has accelerated in the last Figure 1. A Map of the Barossa Valley and Lyndoch two decades with many wineries having single Valley vineyard wines with references on their labels to local names such as Stonewell, Ebenezer, Hill of A Very Old Land Surface Grace, the Lyndoch Valley and the like. Many if not most of the worlds vineyards are planted on land surfaces that are as young as I believe that before wine people begin to think of 10,000 years old and go back about 1,000,000 lines and boundaries to define these sub‐regions years which covers for example the famous and draw these on a map they first need the right glacially derived river terraces of Bordeaux. map. I have come to the conclusion that the best type of map is not a geological map, it is not a soil In the northern part of the Barossa Valley you can map, and it is not a topographic map but is a stand on a land surface that is 200 million years landscape map. old. It must be one of the oldest in the world and is surely one of the oldest surfaces planted to vines. I will spend the first part of the paper developing a It’s a remnant of a great land surface that spread 35 million year history of the Barossa Valley. In the across the southern part of Australia and remained second part we will use what we have learnt to intact for 150 million years. Standing there I look construct for the first time a landscape map of the across the rolling hills and realise that if I connect Barossa valley. We will divide the landscape into the remnant tops of this surface I can reconstruct units defined by a number of differences that how it looked. It was flat and rolled very gently not makes each landscape different to its neighbour. unlike the landscape further north of the Barossa These units may or may not have relevance or and the conclusion you come to is that little has even coincide with sub‐regions that winemakers changed in all this time. By this I mean it has not feel express themselves in changing flavours. Some moved up and has not moved down. To be though do. preserved for such a vast amount of time requires a very, very stable setting‐and such settings are If none of what I set out has relevance to the very rare. general ideas of the site and its effect on wine, the debate about terroir, it will at least have achieved How this old, iron rich surface, tough and very another of my aims which is to explain in non resistant to erosion, slowly crumbled over the last technical terms the very long history that has been 50 million years is the story of the Barossa. 50 needed to form the Barossa Valley. This type of million years ago the climate was sub‐tropical, wet information is useful to visitors to the Barossa and and humid and perhaps the Barossa looked like those who are required to talk about the Barossa. this. Wine Barossa media and trade day 19th June 2008 2 History of the Barossa Valley and Its Landscapes A Brief History of How the Barossa Was Formed. Explaining Faulting The great continents of Antarctica and Australia What is a fault? How did this fracture occur and began to part 70 million years ago. About 50 what would actually have happened? million years ago this parting caused the area to the west of Adelaide to sink and a series of fault To help understand this critical development I lines developed which sliced into the Mount Lofty would like to quote two passages from the Voyage Ranges and one of these now forms the eastern of the Beagle. They refer to a great earthquake edge of McLaren Vale. that shook Chile on February 20th 1835. “The mayor‐domo at Quiriquina told me that the first notice he received of the earthquake was finding both the horse he rode, and himself, rolling together on the ground. Rising up he was again thrown down. He also told me that some cows which were standing on the steep sides of the island were rolled into the sea.” “At the island of S.