Our History

Words: Katie Spain

Wine production in South Australia dates back to the early 19th century, shortly after European settlement, but First Nations people lived here long before Colonel William Light made his way from England to South Australia in 1835 to survey a site for the new settlement. He chose the banks of the River Torrens and named it after Queen Adelaide, while back at home in Blighty. The South Australian Company was founded and land was offered for sale from £1 per acre. 

Of the 12,000 people who embarked on the free passage from England to Australia, many came from agricultural backgrounds and were ready to work hard for a new future. Fortunately, some also loved wine. Skilled newcomers from England, Germany, and France arrived with viticultural knowledge in their back pockets. Just a few years later, a patchwork of vineyards formed part of the landscape across Adelaide, Barossa, McLaren Vale, Clare Valley and the Adelaide Hills.  

Early pioneers include, but are by no means limited to, John Barton Hack who planted some of the first vines near Adelaide during the 1830s, German settler Johann Gramp who fixed his sights on Barossa Valley, Richard Hamilton who arrived in 1837 and planted vines soon after, and of course, Dr. Christopher Rawson Penfold whose iconic brand Penfolds was established in 1844 at its spiritual home at Magill Estate on the outskirts of Adelaide.

By the 1860s wine splashed its way across the colony and regional identities began to emerge. Some of the original vines planted during the 1840s and 1850s are still producing fine wines today. The absence of phylloxera (which devastated European and eastern Australian vineyards) allowed South Australia to thrive and protect some of the world’s oldest ungrafted vines.  

In the 1900s, fortified wines dominated exports, particularly to the UK and Aussie wine began to gain a reputation for richness and strength. Then came the challenges of the 1920s through to the 1960s. World wars, the Great Depression and fluctuations in demand for wine resulted in cooperatives forming to help small growers survive.

There were silver linings. After World War II, the arrival of post-war immigrants from Italy and Greece delivered new culinary delights and a preference for table wines.