Living History

Some of Australia’s most famous wines have made their home in the Swan Valley, with a lineage stretching back to the earliest days of Western Australia’s colonisation.

By FERGAL GLEESON

THE SWAN VALLEY is Western Australia’s oldest wine region (only the Hunter Valley in New South Wales is older in Australia). Initial plantings were by English settlers but winemaking in the region has since been enriched by the arrival of Croatian and Italian immigrants after the two world wars.

I spoke to four leading family wineries where you’ll find some great drops as well as gleaning an understanding of the region’s rich wine history.

Sandalford Wines

Sandalford Wine’s foundation in 1840 coincided with European settlement in the burgeoning colony of Perth. Western Australia’s first Surveyor General, John Septimus Roe, was granted 4,000 acres of land on the riverbanks at West Swan. Sandalford, the Swan Valley’s pioneering agrarian estate was born with crops, cattle grazing, vegetables, vineyards and fruit orchards.

Commercial winemaking accelerated during the 1940s after World War II, spurred on by Croatian and Italian immigrants bringing new knowledge and techniques. The estate flourished. The winemaker at Sandalford Wines from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s was Dorham Mann - son of famed wine-making pioneer Jack Mann.

West Australia’s Prendiville family purchased Sandalford in 1990s and have spent several million dollars recently redeveloping the estate’s facilities aiming to produce wines of distinction as well as

Left, Nikola Estate with jacaranda trees in full bloom. This page, 1840 Sandalford Wine and display of bottles.

being an inspiring place to visit.

Winemaker Hope Metcalf is excited about their new cellar door.

“It is the most delightful place to experience our structured wine tastings,” she tells me. “You can linger here to really enjoy the ambience and history of the estate; it’s light-filled and has a generous long bar. We’ve just added a new private tasting room too, which can be booked for guided wine tasting and blendings.”

Sandalford produces wines from the ultra premium to everyday drinkers. All the Sandalford Wines received 90+ points from Ray Jordan in his most recent wine guide.

Helen is hard-pressed to pick a favourite but did offer the following insights.

“Our 1840 Shiraz is packed full of vibrancy, being well suited to the warmer climate here, with highly concentrated flavours,” she says. “Sandalford’s 1840 Chenin Blanc is another Swan Valley variety that is rather under-rated. As these wines age, that’s where the magic really happens.

“Finally, our Estate Reserve Verdelho is a fabulous food wine. It’s like drinking bliss!” Visit sandalford.com

Nikola Estate

Nikola Estate captures the history of Swan Valley winemaking in microcosm, but first, a little history lesson. Houghton Wines was founded by three British army officers in 1836 in the Swan. It became Western Australia’s largest and most famous winery. Over the decades Houghton changed hands from family ownership to large wine corporations and currently to private equity.

Enter the Yukichs (owners of Oakover Wines), with ‘founding father’ Nikola from Croatia, planting vineyards in the 1920s. Through purchases in 1989 and 2019 the Yukichs acquired Houghton’s Swan vineyards and then the original winery bringing the Estate back together.

The vineyards boast some ancient vines, the oldest going back to the 1930s. Nikola Estate’s range offers many of Australia’s most popular varieties: Sauvignon Semillon blends, Chardonnay, Verdelho, Shiraz and Cabernet.

Nikola Estate hosts weddings and events throughout the year including corporate conferences. A restaurant is opening soon. Visit nikolaestate.com.au

Talijancich Wines

James Talijancich is a third generation winemaker. In 1926 his grandfather Jim Talijancich arrived in Fremantle from Croatia to begin his new life. He headed to the south west of WA to hand-cut timber for railway sleepers. Jim and his wife Ljubica purchased the current vineyard, making fortified wine from Muscat and Shiraz for their first vintage.

After the sudden passing of his grandfather, James’ father Peter left school at 13 years old to work alongside his mother in the vineyard. Peter completed over 50 vintages as winemaker.

Despite the rich family history, current winemaker James had no plans to work in the industry and had a four-year scholarship lined up to play basketball in Los Angeles. The scholarship fell through and James gradually immersed himself in the family business purchasing the winery with his wife Hilda in the 1990s.

Talijancich are famous and highly awarded for their vintage fortifieds but James has also developed their range of table wines to include Verdelho and Shiraz.

James has also moved to biodynamics, a type of organic farming, which pays particular attention to working in harmony with nature and the importance of the vineyard and soil health.

Since COVID-19, Talijancich have brought

in sit-down tasting experiences, where guests sample a set flight of six wines or a ‘Tour and Tasting’. You can also order a cheese board for sustenance.

“People have really embraced this way of tasting without being rushed, or pushing through a crowded bar,” James says.

He particularly recommends the Rare Tawny and the Liqueur Shiraz 1981 Solero.

“Both are incredibly complex fortified wines that my father and I spent 30 years together working on.” Visit taliwine.com.au

John Kosovich Wines

The John Kosovich Wines origin story is a familiar Swan Valley one. Lile (aka Jack) emigrated from Croatia, making a living cutting railway sleepers and goldmining in Kalgoorlie before buying some land in the Swan Valley and planting a vineyard for a taste of home.

John, his eldest son, became a winemaker at the age of 15. With his father’s ailing health the family relied on him to support them. John has now done his 68th vintage (probably unequalled in Australia) and has received an OAM for his contribution to winemaking.

John’s son Arch has now taken the role of senior winemaker, becoming the third generation winemaker. Arch’s brother Ray is the viticulturist.

Arch has produced award-winning wines in his own right, including the Bottle Aged Chenin Blanc which won Best Chenin Blanc in Australia at the inaugural Australian Chenin Blanc Challenge in 2020. The Cabernet Malbec Reserve combines two varieties which grow well in the Swan Valley and the fortifieds show complex yet smooth characters. All wine is made from handpicked and pruned estate grown grapes.

The winery is small and unpretentious. A grapevine trellis at the entrance to the cellar door includes one planted in 1922. Family members work at the cellar door, including Arch. The winery was awarded Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine’s Best Small Cellar Door in the Swan Valley in 2020. Cheeseboard Sundays (at $10 and $25) should be booked ahead. SV Visit johnkosovichwines.com.au

FAMILY Opposite top, James and Hilda Talijancich, and opposite below, Arch, Ray and John Kosovich. This page, the renovated cellar door experience at Sandalford Wines.