| MASTER MUSCAT MAKER CELEBRATES | | | | By: Roberta Horne |  Page 1 of 3 next >> |
In the late 1850s the idea of travelling to Australia must have been equally daunting as the thought of moving to another planet. But that is exactly what the first William Chambers did when, in 1856, he packed his family and worldly possessions aboard the ‘Blundell’ and set sail for the new world.
What was it that prompted this simple gardener to take such a bold step of faith and leave the eastern districts of England and all that was familiar to them? Most likely the driving forces were the possibility of owning his own land and providing more favourable prospects for his children.
William was almost 50 when he stepped off the river boat at Wahgunyah on the southern side of the River Murray, just across from the township of Corowa, the home of federation.
Armed with a shrewdness of character, strong self belief and willingness to work hard, William and his sons Jabez and Philip were able to call on experience they gained while working with fruit and vine cultivation in France.
They faced many challenges as the soil, the climate and natural environment were vastly different. It’s not hard to imagine the devastation a mob of kangaroos would cause in a newly established orchard or vineyard. Stone walls and rudimentary fencing made from saplings were probably not much of a barrier for even the domesticated animals. Barbed wire wasn’t invented until some twenty years later and of course hedges took a long time to grow.
When gold was discovered in Rutherglen in 1860, the family were already on the original 80 acre block they leased two years earlier from the local squatter, John Foord. In a rare stroke of good fortune, one of the leads ran through the property so the family were able to charge a fee for access to the diggings. This income enabled them to pay off the block and acquire further land holdings including the site of the current cellar door.
Their neighbour, a young Prussian called Anton Ruch, was to play a pivotal role in the Chambers story as it was he who shared his winemaking knowledge and spawned a tradition which has now passed through six generations.
The estate became known as ’Rosewood’ when son Philip improved the property by building sheds and a cellar then planting a hedge of pink bush roses around the house paddock.
It was however under the careful hand of Rosewood’s third generation winemaker William Henry, or Will as he was known, that things really started to come together.
In spite of the incredible responsibility he had to take on when first his father then shortly afterwards his mother died, 20 year old Will successfully raised his 9 surviving siblings plus 4 cousins.
To cope with the big family Will built a weatherboard house which was fortunate as when five of the children contracted Typhoid, he had to burn the old house to destroy the germs.
The vine disease phylloxera dealt a particularly savage blow when it struck in 1899. Acres and acres of infested vines had to be pulled up and burnt. It took another seventeen years before Will had finally renewed his beloved vineyards with vines grafted to American, phylloxera resistant, rootstock.
During these difficult times Will’s natural intelligence and his excellent palate led him to explore different blending methods as he was looking for the very best flavours from his sweet wines. This research helped him develop impressive winemaking skills to use the very sound grapes produced on Rosewood vineyards. It is fair to say he is responsible for many of the processes still in use today, both in the cellar and out in the vineyard.
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