Samuel Smith & Sons/ Yalumba: Australia's oldest surviving family-owned winery since 1849

Samuel Smith & Sons' Yalumba winery has survived into the fifth generation of family control.
 

Samuel Smith was a successful brewer in England before he migrated to South Australia in 1847 and worked as a gardener for George Fife Angas at Angaston. In 1849, Smith bought 30 acres for his a vineyard and orchard he called Yalumba.

Smith and his son joined the rush to the Victorian goldfields in 1852.  On his 16th shaft, he struck gold and returned to Adelaide £300 richer. He spent £80 on 80 acres (32 ha) which he let out and spent the rest on equipment, cellars and another house.

In 1852, he made his first wine and, by 1862, had nine acres planted with shiraz. He gave cuttings to his neighbours and later bought their grapes to make wine. In 1863, he produced 60 hogsheads (13,638 litres). Yalumba wines soon won repute, with a bronze medal at the 1866-67 Intercolonial Exhibition, Melbourne, and silver at the 1878 Paris Universal Exhibition.

Son Sidney Smith took over the estate in 1888. In 1923, Samuel Smith & Son became a wine merchant, presenting a blue chip portfolio of national and international wines, spirits and premium ales.

In the 1980s, managing-director Robert Hill-Smith oversaw a buyout of family shares to consolidate the company's independence. Having made a strong push into exporting, the company operates throughout Australia and is administered from its head office in Angaston.

Yalumba wines continue with to be a leader in style, controlling quality through its own vine nursery and cooperage. It has introduced wine varieties such as viognier and tempranillo.

It has also led the industry in environmental performance; reducing carbon emissions, increasing biodiversity and exploring organic viticulture. It celebrated its Barossa heritage by developing an Old Vine charter and releasing reds from ancient shiraz and grenache plants.