Seppelt
Star Cellar Door
Yes, you might have heard that Seppelt, one of the grand old dames of Australian wine, had ceased winery operations. And, yes, the Seppelt winery and cellar door in the hamlet of Great Western had indeed been put up for sale by its owner, Treasury Wine Estates. But an agreement with a group of local business people will now see the cellar door retained, breathing new life into Seppelt’s historic bones. Or that’s the plan. This is something to be celebrated but make no mistake, this year will be an important test of its future, so get yourself out west, wine lover.
It might be argued that the wines under the Seppelt brand, sourced locally but now made in South Australia, have lost little standing in quality, especially so the Drumborg Riesling and Chardonnay, and St. Peters Shiraz.
These wines will be the lifeblood to a continuing viable cellar door operation under the new operators, but the winery does have a gem up its sleeve, unique to Seppelt: the underground drives. A tour offers a transformation, a return to another time: to the late 1860s, when out-of-work gold miners dug three kilometres through rock, excavating space for the wine maturation cellars of Joseph Best. Take a tour (but only if you don’t mind tight spaces) – they are conducted every hour and sometimes at night. JENI PORT
OUTSTANDING WINE: 2016 Seppelt Drumborg Riesling, A$38