2021 Seppeltsfield Shiraz, Barossa

Imported by the wonderful husband and wife team Jane Lopes and Jon Ross. Jane was the opening sommelier of Catbird Seat in Nashville, as well as working at Violet Hour in Chicago and Eleven Madison Park in New York. In 2018, Jane passed the Master Sommelier exam, becoming one of only 35 women in the world to do so. Her first book, an educational and personal guide to the world of wine, was published in September of 2019. Jon was a member of the award-winning wine team at Eleven Madison Park starting in 2012, and held the title of Head Sommelier from 2015. After moving to Australia, he took on the role of Beverage Director for the premium restaurants of the world-renowned Rockpool Group. In 2017, Jon passed the prestigious Master Sommelier exam.

After working as sommeliers in New York, Jane and Jon moved to Australia and worked at several prestigious restaurants before deciding to move back to the United States and start Legend Imports, which specializes in importing and representing small, high quality, artisanal Australian wines to the United States. We recently sat down and tasted with Jane and were blown away by the quality and thoughtfulness of all of the wines represented in their portfolio. 

Seppeltsfield is quite literally one of the most historic estates in all of Australia, established in the Barossa Valley by Joseph and Johanna Seppelt just 15 years after the European settlement of South Australia. In 1850, Joseph Seppelt, an emigrant of Silesia (modern day Poland), purchased 158 acres of land in Nuriootpa, Barossa. Designating it “Seppeltsfield”, Joseph originally farmed tobacco, with later Seppelt generations pivoting to grape growing and winemaking. Seppeltsfield flourished into the 20th century. Along with wine, the Seppelt stable included brandy, gin, vermouth, assorted cordials, and vinegars. Seppeltsfield also expanded into different regions of Australia, most notably Great Western and Rutherglen, wings that came to be sold into separate ownership.

The Seppelt family maintained ownership Seppeltsfield Barossa until 1985. The company went into a period of corporate ownership before returning to private ownership in 2007. Now under the custodianship of proprietor Warren Randall – an esteemed viticulturist and winemaker who worked for the Seppelt family during the 1980s – the estate has become a custodianship of the Seppelt family legacy.

Seppeltsfield is most famed for the Centennial Collection – an unbroken lineage of Australian “Tawny”, every vintage from 1878 to current year. The estate remains the only winery in the world to release a 100 year-old, single vintage wine each year. The estate also boasts a remarkable collection of historic Australian fortified wines: Muscat, Apera (an Australian take on Sherry), and Tokay (a style made from the Muscadelle grape, internationally recognized as Topaque) – all held in vast solera nursery cellars. And most recently, the recommissioning of the 1888 gravity cellar has revitalized the estate’s focus on still wines.

What Jane and Jon Have to Say...
“It is rare for one of the oldest wineries in a region to still be one of the most cutting-edge and prolific. No one has done more for the Barossa region than the Seppelt family, in particular in fostering a unique Australian style of fortifieds that are elegant, nuanced, and astoundingly fresh. Since 2007, under the care of Warren Randall, there has been a renewed focus on the still wines of the estate, which are quickly becoming benchmarks of the region.”