"Marcello Fabretti" wrote.............
>> At a later date, the Australians got their original Syrah/Shiraz
>> cuttings from SA, so they named them what they were where they got
>> them, which was Shiraz. The OZ Syrah did not come directly from
>> France.

> I think you'll find that Busby, the guy who brought
> the first cuttings over from Europe and started the Aussie wine industry,
> got most of his cuttings in Europe and actually toured the Rhone in search
> of material. It is true that he stopped in Cape Town on the way to Oz, but
> so did every ship back then.

Marcello, you are 100% correct - in fact James Busby (1802-1871) really
lived up to his name - he was a real busy bee (sorry!!!)

As a youth he studied viticulture in France before immigrating to Australia
with his parents, where he pioneered grape growing in New South Wales.

He later returned to Europe where he gathered cuttings of some 600 varieties
mainly from France and Spain; successfully growing over 350 at the Sydney
Botanic gardens) - and returned them to Australia where he is now regarded
as the "father of the Australian wine industry."

However, this same James Busby is also accredited with being New Zealand's
first winemaker (1833) after he "saw the light and fled the flies and
bushfires" and jumped the Tasman to Godzone!!!

--

st.helier