WINE HISTORY MINCHINBURY & SEPPELT
1928 Penfolds Minchinbury Trameah, Sydney, New South Wales Sparkling wine production based on the Champagne method was hugely popular in the 1930s. Penfolds Minchinbury Champagne was one of the leading products of its time. The vineyards and cellars, at first managed by Leo Buring, were one of the star attractions for leading dignitaries and celebrities of the time. The Russian Anna Pavlova, one of the most famous ballerinas of all time, visited Minchinbury in 1926 with great fanfare. The vineyard harvest was often during school holidays, and it was not uncommon for children to help with the picking, particularly in the Hunter Valley and Minchinbury, although many of the kids would eat the fruit on the first day, and become sick of it by the second. The 1920s saw an expansion of the vineyards, winery and cellars at Minchinbury, now consumed by housing estates in Western Sydney. Champagne and sparkling Burgundy output was greatly increased, and, in 1920, the first Trameah was marketed. ‘This dry, light wine, produced at Minchinbury from Traminer grapes, is a white type of high quality, with a delightful bouquet that invites the highest praise of wine connoisseurs.’ The 1928 Trameah was regarded as one of the greatest wines of the 1920s. The wine was made from the grape variety traminer, which is a synonym for savignin blanc. Trameah is an amalgam of Traminer and Savannah – the latter being an Australian corruption of savignin. Trameah was simply easier to pronounce. 1915 Seppelt 100-Year-Old Para Liqueur Tawny, Barossa Valley, South Australia A symbolic wine that offers hope for future generations through the comfort of Benno Seppelt’s vision and empathy for the Barossa and South Australia. The Lutheran faith promoted loyalty to the laws and sovereignty of the Colony, yet fear among settlers – with origins from the United Kingdom – led to draconian laws and the de- Germanisation of place names the following year. B. Seppelt and Sons in the Barossa Valley became known as Dorrien, named after a First World War General. Nineteen fifteen was the earliest vintage on record, with harvest beginning in late January. A drought and a disastrous frost in September 1914 ensured a very small crop. The late-ripening mataro, still the ‘mainstay grape variety’ in the Barossa, was a standout. ‘Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon suffered the most’. As was now the tradition, a barrel of the best Tawny Port was laid down to mature in barrel for 100 years. There are only one or two wines that are bottled under the Seppelt Label from the 1915 vintage.
84 The Wine Journal – 2023
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