Australia’s oldest family-owned winery has just turned 175 

In 1847, English brewer Samuel Smith made the decision to permanently migrate to Australia with wife and children in tow. Two years after that, under the moonlight and in the heart of the Barossa, Smith humbly planted the first grapevines on a plot of land he’d recently purchased. Although Smith’s farm also planted and sold orchid fruits, it was his wine that would earn him a reputation the world over. 

This year, Samuel Smith’s direct descendants are celebrating 175 years of provenance and look towards an exciting future for  Yalumba, Australia’s oldest family-owned winery. Drinks Trade recently caught up with Jessica Hill-Smith, sixth generation descendant of Samuel Smith, to discuss the importance of the anniversary.

“Yalumba’s story started back in 1849: 175 years ago, my great, great, great grandfather, Samuel Smith sailed over from the small town of Wareham in Dorset in the UK in search of a new adventure and a new life for his family,” she said. 

“He arrived in 1847, worked as a gardener and eventually travelled over to Victoria during the gold rush and got very lucky finding a small nugget of gold that enabled him to buy his first plot of land.”

Samuel Smith named this plot of land Yalumba, an indigenous word for ‘all the country around.’ 

“He sought inspiration from the words that he had learned while he was in the Barossa and loved [Yalumba’s] meaning - embracing everything around you holistically - and decided to name our family farm that.”

175 years later and Yalumba now stands as Australia’s oldest family-owned wine brand. According to Jessica Hill-Smith, this heritage remains at the very core of Yalumba’s identity to this day. 

“When you look at other family businesses within Australia, there's many second or third generation family businesses, but for us being sixth generation, we're proudly the oldest family owned winery in Australia.

“I think Samuel Smith would be very proud of the business and the legacy he created back then and to see how much of what he believed in and what he valued has remained.”

According to Jessica, “being family-owned allows us to instigate business modelling without pressure from shareholders for short-term returns.” 

She explains one example of this is as being Yalumba’s Museum Program: “our team started setting aside a wine from the 2014 vintage with the anticipation to release it as part of our 175th celebration.” 

Included in Yalumba’s inaugural Museum release are  The Caley, The Octavius, The Signature, and The Menzies. Yalumba’s Museum release has an additional four older wines with the oldest dating back to 2004. Included in these are 2009 and 2012 vintage releases of Yalumba’s flagship The Signature, which this year is celebrating its 50th vintage release. 

“This year, we're celebrating the 50th vintage releases of The Signature,” said Hill-Smith. 

“So the first vintage was 1962, and we haven't released one every single year. Where the vintage is not up to a signature standard, we won't release it, and there's been a number  (probably at least 10 over the years) that we haven't released.”

“It is one of the most celebrated wines within our business. And I think across the industry, because of its longevity, it's one of the wines that Yalumba is most recognised for.”

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This article is the first of a series covering Drinks Trade’s recent chat with Jessica Hill-Smith. More insights into Yalumba will be published online and in Drinks Trade Spring #92 soon.