Léon Edmond Mazure, ‘one of the greatest of Australian viticulturists’, contributed greatly to the progress of the South Australian wine industry over more than four decades, from the 1880s to the 1920, most notably in the production of sparklng wine (Critic, 12 November 1913, 5). Born in Villeneuve (Marne), he learnt his winemaking skills from his father and uncle, both vignerons, and also worked a season at Clos Vougeot and for a time in Spain. He came to Australia by accident after having joined the Marquis de Rays’ expedition to New Ireland, a small island north-east of New Guinea, where he was shipwrecked. He eventually made his way to Sydney where he heard that Sir Samuel Davenport needed a vigneron for his Beaumont vineyard. Having secured the position he arrived in Adelaide in 1884 at the age of 24.
Mazure worked at Beaumont for about eighteen months and a similar period at the Kanmantoo vineyard of CB Young before moving at the start of 1888 to Auldana, then owned by wine merchant Patrick Auld but transferred to Josiah Symon later that year. At Auldana he continued the standard range of white and red table wines, sherry and port but at the same time began to stamp his own authority on the label by creating the St Henri claret (‘a delicious light claret’), launched in October 1889 (Evening Journal, 1 October 1889, 2). Named after his wife Henriette, the sister of his successor at Davenport’s vineyard, Joseph Gelly, it was an immediate success, acclaimed by French visitors to be ‘as near to a true Claret as any yet produced in this colony’ (Adelaide Observer, 6 July 1889, 16). In 1895 St. Henri claret was awarded a silver medal at the Bordeaux International Wine Exhibition, in competition with French wines. By 1898 annual production exceeded 30,000 dozen bottles, and in 1899 Symon appointed him managing partner at Auldana.
Mazure’s real skill, however, lay in the making of sparkling wine, the ultimate goal of almost all Australian winemakers of that era. In 1894 he launched Auldana ‘Sparkling Cup’, a champagne-style wine of relatively low alcohol content, quickly followed by Auldana sparkling burgundy. This became one of the flagships of the Auldana brand and in such demand that by 1898 output increased to 2,000 dozen bottles. One of the first to make sparkling wine in large volumes in Australia, Mazure had tunnels excavated in the hillside behind the winery to ensure optimum conditions for storage.
Mazure’s contributions to the wine industry were both wide-ranging and significant. In the vineyard, he showed how scientific cultivation practices, skilful pruning and judicious fertiliser use could improve yields three- and fourfold. He patented a less labour-intensive method of clarifying champagne and other sparkling wines and a more efficient corkage process that ensured less wastage (Register, 28 February 1913, 9). He also invented and patented a bird scarer that used a windmill to turn and rattle an old kerosene tin filled with marbles (Ernest Whitington, The South Australian Vintage 1903, Adelaide: W. K. Thomas & Co., 1903, 10). He was a pioneer in the use of specific ferments (levures) to improve wine quality and ensure greater control of fermentation, insisting on the need for sound fermentation practices. Capitalising on the advance of refrigeration, he was the first to export fresh grapes to England in 1892, using the French storage practices advocated by Bourbaud, and in 1896 the first to salt and preserve olives for export (previously most olives were destined for oil). (Advertiser, 24 May 1892, 4; Observer, 11 July 1896, 28).
Mazure returned to Europe in 1900, visiting vineyard areas of France and Spain, and went again in 1908, having been commissioned by the South Australian government to report on post-phylloxera viticulture in France. Although he considered the arrival of phylloxera in South Australia inevitable, he did not favour the replacement of vines with phylloxera-resistant rootstock from America, the solution widely adopted in France; rather, inspired by an experimental vineyard in the south of France, he believed that with good management vines would continue to bear well even if infected.
In 1912 Mazure bought a nearby property on Penfold Road, immediately planting vines and establishing cellars for making sparkling wines under the name of La Perouse Vineyards. At the 1916 Sydney Show La Perouse Vineyards won in all sparkling wine categories (Australian champagne; sparkling hock; sparkling Burgundy; sparkling Moselle) and continued to win awards up to 1920.
After selling La Perouse Mazure retired to Victor Harbor where he bought the seafront Casino, initially intending to make and store champagne but instead operating it as a popular dance hall, skating rink and cafe. Even in retirement he kept up a spirited correspondence in the press – for example, deploring the popular preference for fortified wines over table wines such as claret and hock, adding that ‘the wine I have been drinking for years contains only 9 per cent alcohol absolute’ (‘Wine and alcohol strength of S.A. light wines,’ Advertiser, 13 December 1932, 18).
Both Mazure and his wife were enthusiastic members of the Adelaide branch of the Alliance Française, established in 1910. Mazure served on its committee and Henriette supported the French Red Cross Fund, in 1915 operating a ‘French market stall’ in Adelaide and selling produce, flowers, poultry and eggs, and snails.
On his death in 1939 Mazure was acclaimed as a modest genius, an expert who gave generously of his knowledge, and the most genial of hosts.
Image: Portrait of Leon Edmond Mazure, State Library of South Australia.
Author: Barbara Santich, Professor Emeritus, The University of Adelaide, December 2024.
References
Adelaide Advertiser, 1892, 24 May, p. 4; 1932, 13 December, p. 18.
Adelaide Observer, 1889, 6 July, p. 16; 1896, 11 July, p. 28.
Evening Journal (Adelaide), 1889, 1 October, p. 2.
South Australian Register, 1913, 28 February, p. 9.
The Critic (Adelaide), 1913, 12 November, p. 5.
Whitington, Ernest, 1903. The South Australian Vintage 1903. Adelaide, W. K. Thomas & Co.
‘Wine and alcohol strength of S.A. light wines,’ Adelaide Advertiser, 1932, 13 December, p. 18.
Keywords: Auldana; champagne; sparkling wine; sparkling burgundy; St. Henri claret