James Halliday takes a closer look at Seppeltsfield

A visit to South Australia’s historic Seppeltsfield left James Halliday inspired by its evolution. Here, he shares some of its long history and where it’s headed under the care of Warren Randall.

JOSEPH SEPPELT was the founder of Seppeltsfield, arriving in South Australia in 1849, accompanied by wife Johanna, sons Benno and Hugo, and adequate capital to build what he envisioned to be a business growing tobacco and making snuff. It was by sheer chance he came to Australia; his original plan focused on Argentina, but social unrest caused him to look elsewhere, albeit with the same intended business (that of his family in Silesia). In February 1852, he purchased 64ha of land in the Hundred of Nuriootpa, only to find the climate was unsuitable for tobacco.

He turned his attention to corn, wheat and grapes, and, after persuading his neighbours to also grow grapes, agreed to purchase whatever they harvested. The first vintage was made in the family dairy, soon to be converted to a wine cellar, and the stage was set. He began selling the wine at Gawler and along the Murray River, but died in 1868 from a sudden attack of pneumonia.

Benno was only 21 at the time, but had vision and endless energy. By the time he retired in 1916, he had built a business spread across the state and into Victoria, and would live another 14 years in retirement. Had he met Warren Randall, the present owner of Seppeltsfield, he would have found a kindred spirit, and thanked him from the bottom of his heart for bringing Seppeltsfield back to life. Benno’s only achievement that Warren Randall can’t emulate is his nine sons and four daughters.

The first part of the winery was completed in 1867, and in 1875 the original stone cellar was doubled in size. A distillery was built and opened in 1877, and extensions to the cellar continued. By 1878, the capacity of the 1875 building was quadrupled and a new vinegar section was completed. In 1885, work on the vast gravity flow winery began, finishing in 1888.

In 1898 Professor Perkins, Government Viticulturist for South Australia, said, “There are certain things, certain conceptions, which it is needless to praise, because their intrinsic worth stands evident to the simplest observer. I am afraid that Seppeltsfield comes within that class; neither praise nor criticism would enhance or belittle its value, or even interfere with its popularity. Mr Seppelt’s wine cellars have long been recognised as the premier cellars of the colony, and I will only add that personally I know of no cellars, either here or in Europe, so perfectly conceived, from the general plan down to the minutest detail.” And so to Warren Randall, still in his early 60s, filled with missionary zeal. He has the skill to find answers to difficulties that caused others to mentally write off Seppeltsfield’s winery and mini township – all the buildings heritage listed – as being impossible to sustain with maintenance costs of $1m a year, and strictly limited income generating capacity.

Well, what happens if you terminate all property maintenance contracts and take the maintenance in-house? The costs are slashed by two-thirds and the work is carried out by people who are proud of what they do.

Next, you set about recommissioning the gravity flow winery, which had been allowed to run down even before it was mothballed in 1984, bringing it back to life in 2010. It was a term of initial sale of the winery to a syndicate that included Janet Holmes a Court and others including Nathan Waks, principal cellist of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, that only fortified wine could be sold from the winery cellar door. In 2010, Treasury Wine Estates CEO David Dearie agreed to allow fortified wine sales in such manner as Seppeltsfield wished. Warren has never sought the limelight, but neither is there any desire to hide his empire building. Today, the Randall Wine Group (RWG), which he owns and controls, has the largest privately owned premium vineyard holding in Australia. More specifically, it has the largest premium vineyards in the Barossa (with 1300ha), soon to be the largest in Clare Valley (with

364ha, another 223ha to be planted over 2019 and 2020) and the largest in McLaren Vale (623ha). For good measure, he owns vineyards in Langhorne Creek (239ha), Currency Creek (174ha), Coonawarra (40ha) and the Adelaide Hills (8ha).

A word of explanation about the meaning of ‘premium’ in the Randall and Treasury Wine Estates (and others) lexicon: the overall classification has A1, A2 and A3 on top, then B1, B2 and B3. Further down the quality chain comes C, D and E. The classification applies to each parcel of wine or grapes, and by necessity has to be mutually agreed.

RWG is normally a seller of bulk wine and this is the financial key that has provided the working capital that has been its lifeblood. By only buying vineyards that produce premium-quality red wine (almost all shiraz), RWG is operating in a market where demand exceeds supply. Even in a weather-marred season such as 2011, RWG will be at or near the top quality for the year. Thus the business will always be cash-flow positive. One quite extraordinary fact is that every one of the 2,399,352 vines on the RWG vineyards is hand-pruned every year. The other cornerstone of the business model is control over the vinification of the wine, this best achieved by owning or controlling the winery, and putting their own winemakers in charge. The acquisition of Seppeltsfield has achieved all of that, with a husband-and-wife duo of Fiona Donald (since 2009) and Matt Pick (since 2015) in charge. A detail, although an important one, is that the wine will be delivered pre-malolactic fermentation. The purchase price will be determined by the agreed assessment of the quality of the wine, and by the broader market pricing for wine of comparable quality.

The ability to think outside the square underpinned the acquisition of the 880ha Western Ridge vineyards across 11 properties. It was a managed investment scheme that had failed because there was inadequate water to properly irrigate the vines for them to produce adequate yields. Two major companies were circling the vineyard, but unable to come up with a plan to solve the problem.

Not so for Warren. He satisfied himself (with expert advice, of course) with present and future use of bore water, Gawler

River storm water, and treated effluent water from Gawler and housing on the northern outskirts of Adelaide, and extracted from Seppeltsfield’s bore field by what is called ‘managed aquifer recharge’. Several water assets were in place when Warren acquired what is now called Bunyip Water in October 2011. It provided some additional water for the 2015 vintage, and was fully commissioned in October 2016 for the 2017 vintage.

Visiting the primary site in early July was awe-inspiring: a dam covering 14ha (in the old money, 35 acres) with a depth of up to seven metres gravity-feeds four smaller dams within RWG ownership. An additional 3000 to 4000 megalitres (3000 to

4000 million litres) is available for purchase by Bunyip, sufficient for an additional 2500ha of new vineyards in the Barossa in the years ahead. To this point, Bunyip Water has cost $22 million.

“Mr Seppelt’s wine cellars have long been recognised as the premier cellars of the colony, and I will only add that personally I know of no cellars, either here or in Europe, so perfectly conceived, from the general plan down to the minutest detail.”

Professor Perkins, Government Viticulturist for South Australia, 1898