Romavilla Winery facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Romavilla Winery |
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Romavilla Winery main shed, 2008
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| Location | 77 Northern Road, Roma, Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia |
| Design period | 1870s - 1890s (late 19th century) |
| Built | 1877-1878 |
| Official name: Romavilla Winery | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 14 August 2008 |
| Reference no. | 601767 |
| Significant period | 1870s |
| Significant components | shed/s, cellar |
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Romavilla Winery is a special old winery located at 77 Northern Road, Roma, Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built a long time ago, between 1877 and 1878. This important place was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on August 14, 2008. As of December 2020, the winery is closed. It might have closed in 2012.
Contents
The Story of Romavilla Winery
Romavilla Vineyards started in 1866. It was founded by a man named Samuel Symons Bassett. The vineyards are just outside Roma in the Maranoa area of Queensland. For many decades, Romavilla was the most important wine producer in the Roma district and even in Queensland. The oldest part of the winery buildings you see today was built in 1877-1878.
Early Grape Growing in Roma
People started growing grapes successfully in the Roma area in the 1850s. This was when European settlers first arrived. But Romavilla was the first to make wine to sell in the Maranoa in the 1860s. It was also one of Queensland's very first commercial wine makers.
By the late 1800s, grape growing was very popular in Roma. There were 50 local vineyards! Most of these started in the 1870s and 1880s. Many grapes were grown to be eaten as fruit. But a small industry also grew for making wine. Important grape growers included Samuel Symons Bassett, John Robertson, William Tune, James Spencer, Alexandre Robinson, and the Tardent brothers. Growing grapes and making wine stayed important in Roma for a long time. Around 1920, Roma was known for its "magnificent fruit and wine growing district."
Samuel Bassett's Journey
Samuel Bassett was born in Cornwall in 1840. He came to Sydney in 1856. For some years, he worked on his uncle's farm in the Hunter Valley. From 1860, he managed Euthulla Station in the Maranoa. In 1866, he bought almost 270 acres (109 hectares) of farmland near Roma. Here, he started Romavilla Vineyards. He brought vine cuttings by bullock cart from Toowoomba. In 1869, he also opened a general store in Roma. He used it as a place to sell his wines.
Around 1870, Bassett built a house at Romavilla. In 1871, he married Isabella Cameron from Brisbane. They raised a big family at Romavilla, with nine children growing up there.
Samuel Bassett didn't have special training in growing grapes or making wine. He learned mostly by trying things out. By 1881, he hired a manager for the winery. He and his sons then traveled all over Queensland to sell Romavilla wine. By 1888, Bassett had 55 acres of grapevines. He was making 7,000 gallons of wine each year. He also sold table grapes in Roma and Brisbane. The Romavilla cellar could hold 30,000 gallons of wine. Bassett usually kept 20,000 gallons in stock.
Building the Winery
Like many early Queensland wine makers, Bassett's first wine cellar was above ground. That building is no longer there. The oldest part of the big winery building at Romavilla was built in 1877-1878. It was made from cypress wood and imported Oregon pine. It was made bigger several times later on. This building handled the whole wine-making process. This included crushing grapes, fermenting them in large vats, aging wine in barrels, and bottling it. It also had a large underground cellar.
In late 1888, the cellar was described as being partly above and partly below ground. It was built with corrugated iron. There was no special way to keep the cellar at a steady temperature.
Awards and Growth
During the 1880s, Bassett became known for making good wines. Romavilla won its first prize for wine in 1886. The winery won many impressive awards. This included four first prizes at the 1900 Queensland Exhibition. They won nine first prizes at the 1901 Exhibition. They also won medals at international competitions in Europe. By the late 1960s, the winery had won over 650 awards in Australia and worldwide.
Romavilla grew a lot in the late 1800s. In 1898, Samuel Bassett sent his son, William Augustus, to South Australia. He went to learn wine-making from a famous person named Leo Buring.
By 1903, the property was 500 acres (202 hectares). It had 170,000 grapevines planted. Much of the land was watered using irrigation. The winery building had a huge cellar that could store up to 50,000 gallons of wine. Next to the cellar was a "well-equipped plant" with the newest tools for making wine. This included cooling coils on the vats. These coils helped reduce heat during fermentation. Romavilla was one of the first wineries in Australia to use cooling during this process.
Romavilla After Samuel Bassett
In August 1904, the property's ownership changed. It went from Samuel Symons Bassett to The Romavilla Vineyards Limited. After Samuel Bassett died in late 1912, his sons made the business even bigger. It became the largest wine-making company in Queensland. In 1916, they made about 31,000 gallons of wine each year. Their cellars could hold 100,000 gallons.
By 1923, Romavilla was selling products to people and hotels all over Queensland. Their fortified wines, like port, sherry, and madeira, were very popular. For a long time, Romavilla even made its own spirits to add to the wine. By the 1930s, the company sold wine to saloons across the state. Queensland Government Railways sold Romavilla port in its refreshment rooms. Romavilla altar wine was also popular in Catholic churches.
By 1967, Romavilla Vineyards was the only commercial winery left in Queensland. It produced 20,000-30,000 gallons annually. This changed in the 1970s when smaller, special wineries started appearing in the Stanthorpe area.
After William Augustus Bassett died in the early 1970s, the winery was no longer owned by the Bassett family. But its history was remembered. In 1977, the company's name changed to Bassetts Romavilla Winery Pty Ltd. New owners put modern equipment inside the old buildings. But they kept much of the older technology. This old equipment is now very interesting for history and attracts tourists. Important papers have been saved, including old award certificates. There's even a letter from former Prime Minister William Hughes. He used to work at Romavilla and wrote a letter remembering those days after getting a gift of wine from the vineyard.
Sadly, the old house built around 1870 was destroyed by a bad storm in 1984.
In March 2012, the owners, David and Joy Wall, said they were retiring and would sell the winery. In 2013, new owners, Katarzyna Group, announced plans to build a new bar, function room, and accommodation. However, the winery does not seem to have reopened after this announcement.
What Romavilla Winery Looks Like
Romavilla Winery is about two kilometers north of Roma. It stands out on Northern Road, which is the main road going north from Roma. The winery and vineyards are on the flat land near Bungil Creek. The winery area has several buildings. The most important ones for its history are the winery office, the winery shed, and the distillery shed. There's also a small vineyard display at the front.
Driveway and Display Vineyard
You reach the winery shed by driving on a gravel driveway from the front gate. To the south of the driveway, there's a display vineyard. Next to it is the small, low winery office, which is made of timber.
Winery Office
The office building is small and rectangular. It stands on low timber posts. It has a hipped roof covered with corrugated iron. This office is west of the main winery shed. A small entrance porch with a gable roof leads into a narrow room. Two offices open off this room. The building is covered with timber boards and lined inside with fiber cement sheets. The front room has rectangular windows on three sides. The offices also have many windows.
Winery Shed
The winery shed is a very large building made of timber and covered with timber and corrugated iron. It has several tall gabled roofs. The building is made of linked sections on three levels, going down a slight slope.
The small part at the front of the building is used for sales and wine tasting. This area, along with the barrel storage next to it, is built over a cellar. This cellar is used for storing wine for a long time. The middle part of the building holds barrels on racks. The equipment for pressing grapes, storage vats, and bottling machines are towards the back.
The front of the building is covered with corrugated metal sheets. The sign for Romavilla Vineyards is in the middle of the front.
The north, east, and south sides of the shed are covered with corrugated iron. There are continuous bands of fixed timber louvers along the upper north and south walls. The north side has several lean-to extensions for storage. There are also concrete slabs, drains, and other structures, like timber sheds and concrete water tanks, south of the shed.
Inside the front entrance lobby, the sales office is to the left, and the tasting area is to the right. The front part of the shed is straight ahead. This area is tall and open. It has timber louvers along the upper north and south walls. It's wider than other parts of the shed and has a timber floor. This floor is supported by timber posts from the cellar below. This area is used for storing barrels. It also has a small open office and the excise inspector's office. The excise inspector's office is raised up and has stairs. It looks out over the whole shed.
The middle and back parts of the shed have concrete floors with drains. The barrel storage area in the middle has walkways and concrete stands for the barrels.
The back of the shed has both old and modern equipment. The old equipment is important for history. This includes the grape crusher, pressing equipment, and concrete blending and storage tanks built into the ground. Large timber doors open from this area to the east and south. Marks on the concrete floor show where older concrete fermentation tanks used to be. Some of these tanks are now upside down in the yard north of the shed. Parts of the old power system are still on the south wall. Two small concrete blending tanks are in the middle of this area. A large three-chamber concrete storage tank runs along the north side of the shed. Modern equipment like stainless steel storage vats and bottling machines are not considered historically important.
The cellar is dug into the ground under the front part of the shed. You can get to it by concrete stairs from the middle barrel storage area. Barrels sit on timber racks on the floor, which is partly concrete and partly dirt. The walls are made of timber and corrugated iron or concrete.
Distillery
The distillery shed is a rectangular building made of timber and covered with corrugated iron. It has a gabled roof. To the south, a small roof covers the distillery equipment. The ends of the shed are filled with horizontal timber boards. Fixed timber louvers run along the upper parts of the walls.
The distillery shed has a storage room over a cellar to the north and a distillery room to the south. A timber door in the middle of the north side opens into the storage area. This room has a timber floor. Fixed timber louvers are on the upper west, north, and east walls. A door on the east side opens into the still room. From here, steep timber stairs lead down to the cellar. The cellar walls are timber-framed and covered with corrugated iron, set into the earth.
In the distillery room, two copper boilers are set into a brick frame. This frame holds a firebox and is against the south wall. A brick chimney goes from the firebox through the roof. The firebox is accessed through a metal hatch on the outside south wall. This hatch has the maker's name: Harvey & Son Engineers Brisbane. Each boiler has a tall copper cylinder standing upright over it. The whole system is held within a timber frame. A small timber ladder helps reach the upper part.
Equipment
Old wine-making equipment has been kept and is shown to visitors. This includes basket presses in the tasting area and concrete fermentation tanks in the yard.
Why Romavilla Winery is Important
Romavilla Winery was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on August 14, 2008. It met several important rules to be listed.
- Shows Queensland's History: Romavilla Winery has been used for wine-making since the 1870s. It shows how people tried to start a wine-making industry in Queensland a long time ago. For many decades, the Roma area was one of the main places for growing grapes in Queensland. Even though wine production isn't a big industry in Maranoa now, growing grapes was one of the first commercial farming activities in Roma. Romavilla Vineyards made the first wine to sell in this area in the 1860s.
- Rare in Queensland: This winery is one of the few early wineries left in Queensland. It still has many of its original buildings and some old equipment. This makes it important for showing parts of Queensland's manufacturing history that are not common anymore.
- Can Teach Us More: By studying the old parts of Romavilla Winery and looking at the company's old business records, we can learn more about Queensland's early wine-making industry.
- Shows What a Winery Is Like: Romavilla Winery is the oldest winery still operating in Queensland. It still has many features that show what a winery from the late 1800s and early 1900s was like.
