History
The foundations of Seppelt were laid in 1851 when Joseph Seppelt established Seppeltsfield in the Barossa Valley. On the other side of the country, young Frenchman Jean Pierre Trouette followed the gold rush to Victoria and formed a partnership with Anne Marie Blampied and her brother, Emile. They established the first vines in the Grampians region with the historic St. Peters vineyard in 1863. By 1867, their estate had grown to 50,000 vines.
The Great Western winery was founded by Joseph Best in 1865. He commissioned local gold miners to tunnel the underground cellars that became known as Drives. The winery was later purchased by Ballarat businessman Hans Irvine, who began the tradition of Seppelt Sparkling wines in 1890 when he employed Frenchman Charles Pierlot from Champagne to commence Methode Champenoise sparkling wines in Australia. Under the Great Western label these sparkling wines became legendary in Australia, sweeping the show circuit from the 1940s to the 1960s, earning a reputation as Australia's most awarded sparkling wine.
Benno Seppelt took ownership of the winery in 1918 and put Great Western on the map, not only with the magnificent sparkling wines but also exceptional table wines, particularly Shiraz. Legendary winemaker Colin Preece took over in 1932 and pursued excellence in winemaking for the next three decades. In 1982 Seppelt became Australia's largest wine brand and has continued to be an iconic Australian wine brand ever since.
Today's winemaking team goes to great lengths to uphold the supremely high quality standards for which Seppelt wines are renowned.