1847 History

First Commercial vineyard planted on the estate by Johann Gramp after purchasing 83 acres of land in Rowland Flat by what is now known as Jacob’s Creek’s riverbank.

Johann’s first vintage, producing a Riesling wine using Rhine Riesling vines Johann had imported as he knew the vine style well.

Johann gifted 44 acres of the estate to his son Gustav as a wedding present. Gustav established Orlando Wines, as Orlando is thought to mean “Roland” in German. Roland is the name that Rowland Flat came from.

Gustav built a winery and cellar on the estate as the need for larger production and holding facilities were necessary with the expansion of Orlando Wine’s estate.

Johann Gramp passed away, and with his passing, his entire estate, which he grew to 535 acres of land were inherited by Gustav, now becoming part of Orlando Wines.

Gustav created a limited company called G. Gramps & Sons, which now ran Orlando Wines. Orlando Wines over the next century would be known as one of the top three Australian largest premium wine producers. Next two Penfolds and Lindeman’s, with the three of them being known as ‘P.O.L.’ group.

Gustav passed away, with the entire estate, limited company, and Orlando Wines being inherited by his sons: Hugo and Fred. Over the next decade, the pair would expand the business exponentially, reaching just shy of 16 million litres of wine being produced, with Hugo leading the winery as the chief winemaker.

Hugo Grant died in what is known as the “Kyeema” plane crash where all 18 on board perished after crashing into the side of Mount Dandenong. Hugo was one of three influential members of the Australian Wine Industry that died in the accident, the others being Tom Hardy, head of Thomas Hardy and Sons, and Sidney Hill Smith, managing director of S. Smith and Son, Yalumba. Hugo was influential in the Australian wine culture of moving away from fortified wines and moving towards table wines.

Fred Gramp appoints Hugo’s son, Colin, as technical director of Orlando Wines, alongside Fred’s son Sidney as Chief Winemaker.

Orlando Wines leads the Australian wine industry in technology and innovation as the Gramps use sparkling wine technology by importing temperature-controlled pressure fermentation tanks from Germany.

Gramps makes Orlando Wines the first in Australian history to make a sparkling wine produced by secondary fermentation in pressure tanks. The Riesling produced from this won best Riesling at both the Sydney and Melbourne wine shows.

Gramps utilises their higher altitude land at Steingarten, converting the rocky terrain into vineyards, producing a Riesling grown at high altitude.

Throughout the 60’s, the Gramps invested heavily into Orlando Wines, purchasing a fully automatic bottling plant, fully automated wine press and Carbon dioxide carbon separator. Due to stretching their finances, they accepted the offer by Reckitt & Coleman Australia to sell Orlando Wines ownership to them. Reckitt and Coleman allowed for the Orlando Wines brand to finally reach international markets.

Orlando Wines was purchased from Reckitt & Coleman by the four directors of Orlando.

Orlando Wines is sold to Pernod Ricard, a French company, a company that had the capabilities to boost Orlando Wines within the international markets.

John Curnow, a Sydney property developer, and his wife Sue, bought two vineyards in the Barossa, one of which is in Rowland Flat on Church Road.

After purchasing the Rowland Flat vineyard, the Curnows learnt of the history of the estate, knowing some of the original 1847 vines planted by Johann Gramp are still on the estate. The history of the vineyard is the reasoning for their launching of their brand: 1847 wines. Over the next several years, John and Sue would make 1847 wines well known across the globe, in places such as the USA, Singapore, Hungary, Hong Kong, and China.

John and Sue sold 1847 wines, along with both vineyards, to fellow Sydney Sider, Arthur Xiang. Arthur was committed to growing the domestic market of 1847 wines, with the idea of opening a cellar door

The opening of 1847 Wines Rowland Flat cellar door. While the building that holds the cellar door was once a micro-winery for 1847, it is now one of the newest cellar doors to open up in the Barossa Valley. With a passionate and committed team at the helm, we are excited to honour what Johann Gramp began back in 1847 and focus on delivering world-class wine and service across Australia.