John Kelly's very large Tatachilla vineyard hit by wine glut in 1903; sells to an English exporting company

The large complex, including cellars and stables, built at Tatachilla Winery from 1911 by Stephen Smith and Company.

John George Kelly, son of Dr Alexander Kelly who started Tintara winery, was the founder in 1867 of Tatachilla vineyards as one of the largest in Australia. John Kelly, with partners H.M. Varley and A.B. Black, had planted a square mile of vines by 1888.

They were selling their grapes to Tintara Winery where Kelly was manager after his father had sold it Thomas Hardy in 1877.  John Kelly’s time at Tatachilla was undone by the bumper harvests enjoyed by Hardy’s Tintara. They meant that in 1903 Hardy’s couldn’t use Tatachilla grapes.

In 1911, Kelly sold to Tatachilla to English exporting firm Stephen Smith and Company. This company developed the large complex of limestone and brick winery buildings, starting with the cellar block which was completed by 1913.

The horses needed to work such a large vineyard required the big stable and shed complex that included a stallion house for isolating individual horses. George Baxendale, veterinary surgeon in McLaren Vale from 1919 to 1950 was employed by Stephen Smith and Company, to look after the horses. The many grape pickers needed for the harvest included local and itinerant workers, some of accommodated by occupants of the houses associated with Tatachilla.

By 1929,  Stephen Smith and Company were considered the largest exporters of burgundy in Australia. Wine from Tatachilla under the Keystone label was very popular in England. Stephen Smith and Company continued until 1962 when it was bought out by the Emu wine company. Winemaking stopped two years later and the buildings were sold to the Lutheran church as a holiday camp.

The cellars remains in good conditions but all wine-making equipment was moved. The Banksia Wine group and Warren Randall's Tinlins Wines have bought interests into Tatachilla vineyards.