Summary
Although this was a year of below average growing season rainfall, it fell at the right time. A wet winter and early spring rains followed by a very dry October through to March was followed by a dry, trouble free vintage which produced good red wines.
In 1957 there were 7,356 hectares of vineyards in Barossa and 35,271 tonnes of wine grapes were crushed in that vintage.
Highlights
Growers were alerted to the effects of vine disease, Eutypa.
The first horizontal Willmes bag press was used at Penfolds.
The first commercial release of a new elegant Penfolds red wine, St. Henri Claret started from this vintage.
Wine scientist John Fornachon identified malolactic fermentation (MLF) in approximately 50% of Australian red wines prior to six months of age – bacteria were heterofermentative lactobacillus, due to the high pH of red wines.
Kaiser Stuhl expands its product range with the launch of a sweet vermouth.
Sources
SA Wine Grape Crush Survey, Vinehealth Australia and ‘Barossa Vintages: a wine history from 1842’, Peter Fuller
