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Four hundred and eleven boarded the vessel in Silesia Poland, only three hundred and sixty disembarked in Adelaide.

Where there’s a will, there’s always a way. That was the mentality of the first farmers who planted vines in Australian dirt. They had their work cut out for them. Vineyards had to face north not south, vintage was at budburst, budburst was at vintage and Christmas was hot. 

The vines they planted were a mish mash of varieties from all over the world and no one really knew what they were planting or how they would grow. 

Innovators survived, imitators perished.  

Joseph Seppelt was an innovator. He convinced thirteen families to leave their homes in Silesia and sail for four months on a ship to work for him at the other end of the world. That’s innovative. 

He planned to grow tobacco and ended up planting vines. That was luck. Joseph did make two good choices: He chose the best wine region and chose to make best wine. That was 150 years ago. 

Those two principles have seen Seppelt spread its vineyards throughout some of the best wine regions of Australia and have seen them awarded with more wine show medals and accolades than any other winery. Just goes to show what you can achieve when you put your mind to it.

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