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W. J. Seabrook & Son have been a part of the Australian wine industry since 1878. Many an ancient storefront, right across the country, are still emblazoned with the family label. Fifth generation vigneron Hamish Seabrook drew inspiration from time well spent at other illustrious estates, establishing his own personal repute as a distinguished winemaker during tours of duty at Bests Great Western, Brown Brothers Milawa and the Barossa's exalted Dorrien. A key to the long lived excellence of the Seabrook trademark has been a canny selection of exceptional vineyards fruit. Hamish hand chooses his harvests from the finest vineyards in the land, just as his forefathers did. He is a proud recipient of the prestigious Dux Len Evans and is an eminient jurist at the top tier of national.. Salutations to seabrook»
The Australian winemaking industry is grateful to Leontine O'Shea, instrumental in the establishment of Mount Pleasant wines, she sent her son Maurice to France for an education in viticulture right at the outbreak of World War I, gifting him his first Hunter Valley vineyard in 1921. Mount Pleasant are now custodians of some grand old sites, a canon of small, elite blocks of vine that yield a precious range of icon wines, which represent peerless value and readily disappear before release of the following vintage... The legacy of grand old hunter valley vineyards»
Leasingham
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Leasingham
The Clare Valley, set in the folds of the Mount Lofty Ranges 140 kilometres north of Adelaide is proud of it's long history of outstanding winemaking

At around 400 metres elevation the Clare Valley is characterised by cool night time temperatures and warm days. In 1893 a group of South Australian entrepreneurs founded The Stanley Wine Company to produce high quality Clare Valley red and white wines. Subsequent generations of wine drinkers and wine judges have applauded their decision and confirmed their hopes.

Leasingham

Originally there were four pioneers J.H. (Joseph) Knappstein a merchant, Dr O. Wein-Smith a medical practitioner, soliciter Magnus Badger, and John Cristion, who was a brewer of note. Alfred Basedow was employed as General Manager and Winemaker, having learned his craft in Europe. The name Stanley was chosen to identify the company with the local electoral district of Stanley.

The first vintage, in 1895, was a mere 11,356 litres. In 1896 cellars were constructed and each year improvements were made until 1903 when the vintage yielded 378,540 litres of wine. This represented the crush of most of the grapes grown in the Clare Valley district. By 1912, Joseph Knappstein, one of the most enterprising men of his time in South Australia, had bought out the interests of the other three founders and gained control of the company. Since that time the Knappstein family has been associated with the activities of the company.

In 1971 the H.J. Heinz Corporation, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, purchased a controlling interest. The Knappstein family retained key positions in the company and held shares until 1976. In 1984 the Heinz company purchased the Buronga winery in Mildura, New South Wales. The production of Stanley wine casks was transferred from the Leasingham Clare Valley winery to Buronga, which is closer to the supply of fruit for cask wines. The Leasingham operation was then free to concentrate on the production of premium wines.

Leasingham

The Leasingham wineworks was acquired by The Hardy Wine Company in January 1988, when a major upgrade of vineyards, winery, tourism and promotional facilities was begun. Subsequently that year, the Clarevale Co-operative was integrated giving access to further premium fruit. Today the name Leasingham is reserved for premium wines only - the Stanley name continues on a range of wine casks produced at the Buronga winery.

The Clare Valley has gained a reputation for producing some of Australia's finest premium wines, in particular Riesling and Shiraz. The region's early reputation was based around the production of Australia's finest Rieslings, but in more recent times the reds have excelled. The contemporary Australian palate for reds is perfectly suited to the region's growing conditions, which translates into big rich generous styles that are so much in demand.

Each vintage some 5,000 tonnes of grapes, from local growers and from the estate's own vineyards, are crushed at the Leasingham wineworks. Demand for Leasingham's wines has exceeded supply and the winery has undergone capacity expansion into new vineyards. Fruit for the famous label is can now be sourced from some of the Clare Valley's most skilled and deicated grape growers.

Leasingham's wines have enjoyed considerable success in recent times winning many accolades at national and international wine shows. The most notable being the 1995 Jimmy Watson Trophy won by the 1994 Leasingham Classic Clare Shiraz at the 1995 Royal Melbourne Wine Show. This was the first Jimmy Watson Trophy ever won by a Clare Valley wine.

Leasingham