Günter Prass a strong influence on Australian wine from 1950s-80s with Barossa Pearl key moment for whites
Günter Prass with Wolf Blass, another winemaker with German origins, to have a strong influence on South Australia's and Australia's wine direction.
Image courtesy Cellermasters.
Günter Prass, one of our most influential Australian winemakers working mainly in South Australia from the 1950s to 1980s, was credited, alongside his friends Max Schubert and Peter Lehmann, with bringing Barossa Valley to the world stage.
The son of a winemaker and grandson of grape growers, Prass’s career began in Germany where he studied viticulture and winemaking. One of the first flying winemakers, he went on to work in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Australia.
Prass held different positions at Orlando Wines in South Australia's Barossa Valley between 1955 and 1988, Orlando had grown through a fine reputation for its wines and brandy. Its contribution to Australian wine technology increased in 1953 with the release of Orlando's first rhine Riesling, made in pressure fermentation tanks imported by Colin Gramp to retain varietal flavours.
In 1954, Gramp introduced the Charmat process, enabling secondary fermentation of sparkling wines to take place in pressure tanks, In 1956, helped by Prass, Gramp produced Barossa Pearl, a low-cost, quality sparkling table white that gave many Australians their first taste for wine. The wine was credited with shifting consumption from fortified to table wine.
Praas helped give Australia a new edge in commercial winemaking, building its expertise in controlled fermentation and better handling. He also worked as trading director of Thomas Hardy & Sons, general manager at Barossa Valley Estate Winery and later as a consultant to The Hardy Wine Company. He was an inaugural trustee of the Wolf Blass Foundation and a life member of the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia.
Prass was awarded an Order of Australia in 1990, the inaugural Wolf Blass Award for his contribution to developing riesling in Australia in 2003 and the Maurice O’Shea Award in 2004 recognising his efforts as one of the industry pioneers who revolutionised white winemaking in Australia.
In a tribute to Prass on his death in 2015, Winemakers Federation of Australia chief executive and Wolf Blass Foundation trustee Paul Evans said Prass “was a passionate advocate for the industry and he lived a life dedicated to the pursuit of rigorous standards and excellence. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him and had the opportunity to learn from his intellect and wisdom.
