Gil Wahlquist
BornEric Gilbert Wahlquist
11 April 1927
Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia
Died7 December 2012(2012-12-07) (aged 85)
Hunters Hill, NSW, Australia
OccupationJournalist, winemaker
NationalityAustralian

Gil Wahlquist (1927–2012) was an Australian journalist and "pioneer organic wine producer"[1][2] who was largely responsible for re-establishing the Mudgee wine industry and raising the international profile of the Australian wine industry in the 1970s.[3][4]

Early life and career

Gil Wahlquist was born Eric Gilbert Wahlquist in the Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds, Victoria, on 11 April 1927. His parents were Eric Wahlquist, a theatre manager, and his wife, Ellen (nee Limbrick).[4] Eric's father was a Swede who had jumped ship at Port Pirie, South Australia and married into an Australian family of German descent.[4]

During his high school years Wahlquist worked on the school magazine and developed an interest in journalism. From early in his life he was interested in movies and in music, especially jazz.[3]

He worked as a part time radio copywriter with radio station 5KA in Adelaide and then in 1944 during the Second World War he enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy as an ordinary seaman and served on HMAS Rockhampton, a corvette.[4]

After the war he attended the University of Adelaide and edited On Dit, the student union's newspaper there.[5] On 13 May 1950 he married Vincie Porter.[4] He worked at The News in Adelaide and during that period he was a member of the Fabian Society. In 1956 he moved to Sydney and worked as a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald. As a sideline he reviewed records, especially of jazz, folk and pop, and wrote a weekly column "What's new on record" for Sydney's Sun Herald.[6]

In 1958 he took up a position with Sydney's TV Times where he would work for ten years. In those years he developed an interest in sailing, built a number of boats, and helped found the Australian Sabot Sailing Association.[4] He then worked with Nielsen McCarthy, a public relations company.[4]

Mudgee

In 1971 Gil and Vincie Wahlquist, seeking a slower-paced lifestyle, moved to Mudgee, a town in the central west of New South Wales. They purchased land there and named it the Botobolar Vineyard. They planted wine grapes and waited for plants to grow. In the meantime Gil signed on as editor of the Mudgee Guardian newspaper[4] (on a third of his original salary in the city)[7] and also launched the Botobolar Bugle, which would become "Australia’s longest-running winery newsletter".[1] Vincie worked as a teacher at Mudgee Public School.[1][8]

In 1974 the grapes were ready for harvesting but, finding the selling price was very low, he decided to make his own wine.[4]

He introduced a number of innovations to the industry. The first was to reject the use of "clean cultivation" (in which weeds were removed and the earth under the vines left bare), preferring to leave weeds in place which pests could then eat instead of the vines. The second was to refuse to spray DDT in order to kill pests such as cutworms. Instead he chose to use organic growing methods and "developed a system of farming with herbicides or pesticides", such as using "only organically acceptable chemicals, such as winter oil, a mixture of lime and sulphur and a dusting of sulphur".[9][4][10][11][12] In so doing he produced preservative-free wine.[3] According to Huon Hooke, "Botobolar was the first and for many years the only Australian vineyard accredited by the National Association of Sustainable Agriculture".[1]

Apart from pioneering the organic wine industry in Australia, he was a "tireless promoter" for the Mudgee district's wines and for Australian wines more generally,[13] establishing the Mudgee Wine Grape Growers Association, Mudgee Small Farms Field Days, Mudgee Wine Show and Mudgee Wine Week and setting up Australia-wide associations for small winemakers and sustainable agriculture.[3] He and his fellow vignerons persuaded the New South Wales Department of Education to set up a six-month course in viticulture at Mudgee Technical College, beginning in 1974.[14]

Wahlquist strongly advocated the introduction of an Australian appelation contrôlée system under which "labels would certify that the wines were grown with grapes grown in the Mudgee area" and would lead to "stringent methods of production and marketing" with the final outcome being in the "development of a distinctive regional wine style in Australia".[15]

Grapes had been grown in the Mudgee area by three German families, including that of Adam Roth,[16] as early as 1858. Grape growing reached a peak with 55 vineyards in the locality in 1893,[17] which was followed by an industry decline during the hard times of 1890s. Following Wahlquist's arrival and innovations from 1971, large and small vineyards started planting vines in Mudgee once again and the district's industry prospered.

In 2008 Barry Buffier of the New South Wales Government's Industry & Investment NSW stated: "Mr Wahlquist is almost single-handedly responsible for establishing the Mudgee wine industry, and training the next generation of wine industry employees. He persuaded Mudgee wine and food producers to work together for the recognition of their region as a premium food producer, and the region's viticulture industry is now worth an estimated $45 million annually."[18] Mr Buffier thanked Wahlquist for raising "Australia's profile in the international wine industry",[18] part of which he had achieved by convincing the Federal Minister for Agriculture in 1993 to fund the first promotion of Australian wines overseas.

Hunters Hill

In 1994 Wahlquist and his wife sold their vineyard to Kevin and Trina Karstrom[1] and moved to Hunters Hill, a suburb in the lower north shore of Sydney. They became involved in a number of local groups such as the Hunters Hill Trust, the Hunters Hill Historical Society,[19] the Hunters Hill Probus Club, and the Hunters Hill Museum,[20][21] and "worked tirelessly"[21] for the benefit of seniors.

He continued to contribute to the Botobolar Bugle and for four years he wrote for the 2MS FM magazine.[4]

Personal life

Walhquist died at home in Hunters Hill on 7 December 2012 "with his wife Vincie at his side".[22][1]

Gil and Vincie had four children, Åsa Karin, a Walkley Award winning journalist, Roland, previously the CEO of the Australian winemaker Brown Brothers,[23][24] Janet, and Nancy, all of whom survived him. One of his grandchildren, Calla Wahlquist, is a journalist with The Guardian.[25]

Award and honours

Bibliography

Books

  • HMAS Rockhampton: Australian Corvette in World War II, Hunters Hill, N.S.W.: Gilbert Wahlquist, 2005.
  • Some of My Best Friends Are Winemakers: A History of the Wine Industry of Mudgee, Hunters Hill, N.S.W.: Gilbert Wahlquist, 2008.

Book sections

  • Foreword to: Mudgee: A Nest in the Hills, Mudgee, N.S.W.: Mudgee Historical Society, Mudgee, 1981.

Articles

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Huon Hooke, Pioneer organic wine producer has died at 85, therealreview.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  2. ↑ Oliver Sinet, Gil Wahlquist : Le parain de la viticulture biologique en Australie, curiozworld.fr. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Asa Wahlquist, "Words, wine and wisdom", The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 January 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Asa Wahlquist, A Celebration of the Life of Eric Gil Wahlquist - "Gil" - 11th April 1927 - 7th December 2012, huntershilltrust.org.au. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  5. ↑ Candy Gibson, "A rough cut of history", adelaide.edu.au. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  6. ↑ "Jazz: a movie of the mind", The Sun Herald, 7 December 1969, p. 123. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  7. ↑ Gareth Powell, "The civilised alternative", The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 November 1989, p. 15.
  8. ↑ Sam Paine, "Pioneer of Mudgee wine industry", Mudgee Guardian, 10 December 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  9. ↑ "Why organic farming is a good selling point", The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 September 1988, p. 6.
  10. ↑ "Men who live on wine... and a way to spot the non-buyers", The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 March 1983, p. 255.
  11. ↑ David Dunstan, "Mudgee winegrower puts a ban on the herbicides and pesticides", The Age, 13 October 1981, p. 28.
  12. ↑ Robin Ingram, "One man's wine is another man's poison", The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 May 1988, p. 54.
  13. ↑ Don Hogg, "Celebrating Mudgee's fine wines", The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 August 1990, p. 142.
  14. ↑ "Beating the rat race", 5 December 1973.
  15. ↑ Peter Simic, "Battle of the bottle labels", The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 October 1979, pp. 23-24.
  16. ↑ Gil Wahlquist, Roth, Adam (1827–1898), Australian Dictionary of Biography, adb.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  17. ↑ Best Wineries & Vineyards in Mudgee, NSW: Halliday Wine Companion, winecompanion.com.au. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  18. 1 2 3 Mudgee’s Gil Wahlquist wins top NSW wine industry award, dpi.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  19. ↑ "Write for us", Bunk, Vol. 8, Issue 2, May 2008. huntershillmuseum.org.au. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  20. ↑ "Gil Wahlquist - a man Hunters Hill won’t forget in a hurry", Bunk, Vol. 13, Issue 1, February 2013. huntershillmuseum.org.au. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  21. 1 2 3 4 "Message of Condolence: The Late Eric Gilbert (Gil) Wahlquist", Order of Business: Ordinary Meeting No. 4334: 10 December 2012 at 7.30pm, huntershill.nsw.gov.au, pp. B5-B6. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  22. ↑ Godfather of organic wine dies, winetitles.com.au. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  23. ↑ Huon Hooke, Farewell to an innovator in organic wine, goodfood.com.au. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  24. ↑ Huon Hooke, A climate of change, therealreview. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  25. ↑ Calla Wahlquist, The Guardian. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  26. ↑ Graham Gregory Award, dpi.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  27. ↑ Public Place Names (Strathnairn) Determination 2020 (No 2), act.gov.au. Retrieved 9 April 2022.

Further reading

  • James Halliday, A History of the Australian Wine Industry 1949–1994, Adelaide: Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation in association with Winetitles, 1994.
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