Starting from scratch to build a wine industry begins with the early migrants and being English meant they arrived with vine cuttings of the French varieties that made the wines favoured in England. Fortifieds were more complicated and came from Portugal and Spain and vine cuttings for these varieties were picked up from Madiera and Cape Town.
James Busby on a return visit to England brought back a huge collection of French vine cuttings around 1833 and the genes of these have spread across Australis vineyards. Durif arrived in a different way and appeared from a cross of Shiraz with Peloursin in the plant nursery of Francois Durif in 1868. It was brought to Rutherglen from the south of France in 1908 by the eminent viticulturist Francois de Castella being one of the varieties reintroduced after many Victorian vineyards were destroyed by phylloxera. Not favoured in France it did become a local favourite around Rutherglen.
The more we deal with Durif the more we like it. There is a place for a 12% cool climate Pinot and there is a place for a Barossa Valley Durif of large proportions. The view at Glug firms that Durif has found its rightful place in Australia, especially the Barossa Valley.
