Ondenc variety disappearing

by Ross

I was just reading about the Ondenc grape variety. I was recently at Great Western and much to my horror I was told they pulled out their Ondenc grapes.

This is such a shame as the vines were originally planted in the 1890's or so I was told years ago. They said with Fosters in control they didn't produce enough to make it viable. The Hans Irvine sparkling wine they produced from it to my mind was absolutely lovely. Luckily I have still a few bottles of the 1990 and 1991 to drink.