Hamilton's Ewell Vineyards

Hamilton's Ewell Vineyards was a winery founded by Richard Hamilton (1792–1852) in the early days of the colony of South Australia.

Richard Hamilton (18 February 1792 – 13 August 1852) of Dover, Kent, was owner of property on Long Island, New York, which he sold in 1837 to purchase an 80 acres (32 ha) section in Glenelg, South Australia. He emigrated, arriving in Adelaide on 17 October 1837, and set about establishing a farm. By 1840 "Ewell Farm", named after Ewell, Surrey, incorporated a vineyard covering 5 acres (2 ha), planted with vine cuttings he had purchased in South Africa en route to Australia.

His son, Henry Hamilton (6 January 1826 – 10 February 1907), remained in England, where he was a student at a Christ's Hospital bluecoat school, then emigrated on the Christina in 1841 and for two years worked on a sheep station near Burra. He purchased a property in Oaklands adjoining his father's property, built a house and settled there. He inherited his father's Glenelg property, but it was disposed of within his lifetime.

He suffered from ill-health in his later years, and handed over management of Ewell Vineyards, to his son F E "Frank" Hamilton (5 February 1859 – 13 June 1913) in 1890. Frank served on Marion Council for many years. Ewell Vineyards at this time covered 156 acres (63 ha), as well as groves of almonds and other fruit. Frank married Violet Ayliffe (1 February 1875 – 1 February 1865) on 17 September 1895. She was a granddaughter of Dr. George Hamilton Ayliffe.

Their eldest son (Frank) Eric Hamilton (4 July 1896 – May 1967) took over management of the company, with Sydney (18 July 1898 – 22 July 1987), another son, as winemaker. They rebuilt the winery and installed a distillery. They restructured the company as Hamilton's Ewell Vineyards Pty. Ltd. in 1934.

Eric's son Robert (27 May 1926 – 8 January 1976) became chairman of directors in 1967.

Hamiltons Ewell vineyards were planted with red (Grenache) and white (Pedro Ximenes) wine grapes for wines they marketed as Chablis and Moselle. In 1841 the vineyard produced South Australia's first commercial wine. With the installation of pot stills they were able to specialize in fortified wines, notably Sauterne, and brandy. In 1958 the company purchased the Bridgewater Mill (built for John Dunn), which they used for maturation of their table wines and as a bond store for brandy spirit. Petaluma Wines purchased the Mill in 1986.

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