Chateau Tahbilk: Story of a Vineyard 1860-1985
Food & Drink Australian History Business History Wine & Viticulture Family & Regional Chronicles Agriculture & Farming
Chateau Tahbilk: Story of a Vineyard 1860-1985 is the only complete, single-volume chronicle of Australia’s oldest family-owned winery, tracing 125 continuous vintages from the first plantings on the banks of the Goulburn River to the rebirth of the historic cellars in the mid-1980s. Written by two insiders—long-time vigneron Frank Doherty and literary historian Enid Moodie Heddle—the book blends meticulous estate records, newspaper clippings and personal recollections into a fast-moving narrative that feels more like a conversation across the tasting bench than an academic text. The result is a vivid portrait of how one vineyard survived phylloxera, world wars, Prohibition, the Great Depression and the rise of bulk-wine conglomerates to become the benchmark for Victorian Shiraz and Marsanne.
Collectors prize this 1985 first-edition paperback because it contains vintage diagrams of the original Tahbilk tower, never-reprinted photos of horse-drawn ploughs on the “1860 Block”, and the first published list of every winemaker from 1860 to 1985—data that later pictorial histories omit. At only 89 pages it is a concise reference you can slip between wine atlases on the shelf, yet every paragraph is foot-noted to primary sources held in the Tahbilk archive, making it the go-to citation for Australian wine scholars. The book also captures the Moodie and Purbrick families’ entrepreneurial pivot from grazing to premium wine in the 1930s, a case-study still taught in Adelaide and Melbourne business schools.
For the wine lover who has visited Tahbilk’s eco-certified wetlands and wants the back-story behind the museum-release 1979 Shiraz still pouring in the cellar door, this copy offers clean, unmarked pages and a tight binding—ideal for reading, gift-giving or archival storage. Its light edge-toning and cover scuffing are honest signs of 40 years of careful ownership, not abuse, and because it is not ex-library there are no stamps or adhesive scars to detract from the vintage photography. Secure this piece of Australian wine heritage now while first editions remain affordable; when the 150-year anniversary edition appears, early printings like this will be the ones collectors hunt.
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