Semillon “Margaret” Barossa Valley 2015 – Peter Lehmann Masters

Vines for the Margaret Semillon come from a 1936 planting owned by the Scholz family at Light Pass in the heart of the Barossa. This Semillon is named after Margaret Lehmann – the wife, business partner and champion of Peter Lehmann Wines.

Peter Lehmann started his own winery in 1979, partly as a means of helping with the glut of grapes then afflicting the Barossa. “I’ll take your grapes and turn them into wine,” he told the desperate growers, many of them conservative farmers of Silesian descent who regarded their old vines as part of their patrimony. “But I’ll only be able to pay you when I sell the wine.” They gratefully accepted. Without this deal, it is widely thought that the Barossa would have lost a large swathe of its old vines. The crisis passed, in large part thanks to Peter’s energy and vision, and the Lehmann winery became one of the Barossa’s – and Australia’s – outstanding wineries.