Stonier syndicate buys Seppelt Great Western winery and vineyards
The group led by Aaron Drummond has acquired the Seppelt brand, the Great Western winery and its cellar door and underground drives, plus the Great Western and Drumborg vineyards, from Treasury Wine Estates.
Seppelt returns to private ownership
A syndicate headed by Aaron Drummond has bought the Seppelt brand from Treasury Wine Estates together with the Great Western winery, its cellar door and underground drives, and the Great Western and Drumborg vineyards. Drummond and his associates had acquired Stonier from Accolade 4 years earlier.1
The transaction is intended to reactivate the Great Western site, where the winery had been mothballed under previous corporate ownership. Bottles of sparkling wine are again expected to mature in the underground drives as production resumes.1
Winemakers and portfolio
Dan Buckle, formerly a sparkling-wine specialist at Domaine Chandon and previously a winemaker at Mount Langi Ghiran, will oversee sparkling production and the Great Western wines. He will run the Great Western winery and make wines including St Peters Shiraz and the sparkling reds.1
The sparkling portfolio comprises Salinger NV, Salinger Vintage, Sparkling Shiraz and Show Sparkling Shiraz. The Great Western range will include St Peters, Chalambar and Jaluka, while a Great Western Shiraz is to return as the entry-level wine at an RRP of AUD 26.1
Julian Grounds will make the Drumborg Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay and Riesling. The report says it appears that the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and possibly additional Drumborg wines will be vinified at Stonier by the team led by Grounds; it does not establish that all 4 named wines will be made there.1
The owners plan to remove inexpensive wines sourced outside the region after their expansion over the past 10 years, concentrating instead on the 2 estate vineyards, Great Western and Drumborg. Another connection with the Grampians is Drummond’s sister Rebecca, who runs the family’s Fallen Giants vineyard, winner of the Jimmy Watson Trophy and Trevor Mast Trophy in 2021.1
The estates’ history
Karl Seppelt established the Drumborg vineyard in 1964, while leading Seppelt, in the area now recognized as the Henty region. At the time, it was a major pioneering investment in cool-climate viticulture.1
Great Western sparkling wine, then sold as “champagne,” was among Australia’s best-known sparkling wines for about 100 years. Hans Irvine bought the property from founder Joseph Best’s estate in 1888 and owned it until retiring in 1918, when he sold it to the Seppelt family of the Barossa. Irvine employed Charles Pierlot, a former Pommery champagne maker, to produce sparkling wine.1
During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, Colin Preece managed the cellars for Seppelt, working with a winemaking team responsible for notable red wines of the period. The new ownership now has the task of restoring production at a site with a long but recently diminished role in Australian wine.1
Sources
Written by the Dionysus editors from the sources above.
