Seppelt Wines in Great Western has a long and rich history of producing premium and award-winning Australian wines. With a lineage of 160 years of winemaking, the Seppelt family were first established in the Barossa Valley in South Australia, later purchasing the Seppelt Great Western property in 1918. Before the Seppelt family took over ownership of the property east of the Grampians, the winery itself played an integral part in winemaking history. First established in the 1860s by brothers Joseph and Henry Best, the property served as a butchery to feed the swollen population of the gold fields. The two brothers later expanded their business to include the production of wine, pioneering the wine industry in the Grampians region. Joseph remained on the Great Western property while Henry established his own winery in the Great Western area. It was while Joseph Best was under ownership that the Government acquired some of his land with a compensation of £500 to build a railway line with a station on the estate.
Joseph now had convenient access to use the railway to transport his wines faster and further than he ever could before. A businessman by the name of Hans Irvine took ownership of the property in 1890 with the intention of expanding and developing the business. Hans played an integral role in the history of Australian wine making, commissioning a french-trained Champagne maker by the name of Charles Pierlot to craft an Australian ‘Champagne’ which was the first of its kind outside of France. In the coming years, the creation of a household staple, the ‘Great Western Champagne’ took the world by storm, with the railway line assisting in wide distribution.
The railway line was also used to distribute when the Seppelt family took ownership of the property as it had done for the previous owners, serving as a useful tool in Seppelt Great Western becoming one of the most well known wineries to date.
To this day, the railway line still runs through the Seppelt Great Western property. Although there is no longer a station and the train no longer stops, it is a subtle reminder of times gone by. Next time you are driving through Great Western on your way to visit the Grampians, make sure to experience all that Seppelt Wines has to offer. With award winning wines grown in the Grampians region and beyond and tour available of the largest network of underground cellars in Australia, Great Western has been dubbed ‘the wine and food village of the Grampians’ for a reason!
You may even be lucky enough to wave to a passing train.
For a family adventure like no other, book an experience at Seppelt Great Western.