Legendary Australian winemaker tours Canada

When it comes to Australian wines, few names are as well known as that of Peter Lehmann. The legendary winemaker — whose label, Peter Lehmann of the Barossa is one of the most recognized Australian brands in Canada — is currently on tour across Canada with his wife, Margaret Lehmann.

They’ll be in Vancouver on Oct. 12, Edmonton on Oct. 13, Calgary on Oct. 17, Saskatoon on Oct. 18 and Winnipeg on Oct. 19; all events are by invitation only. They spoke to Wine Access during their first Vancouver stop last week, a stop that included tastings of wines dating back to 1958. Some were pulled from Lehmann’s own cellar; others were vintages he had worked on in his early days in the industry. Still others were recent vintages, available now in the Canadian market.

“Every vintage we’ve shown, every bottle has its own story,” Lehmann says.

And Lehmann — a tall, quick-witted man with a lively sense of humour — had plenty of his own stories to share. Born in 1930 in Angaston, South Australia, he grew up playing football (soccer) and cricket. The son of a Lutheran minister, he considered following his father into the ministry, but in 1945, his dad died suddenly at the age of 55. Shortly after that, Lehmann dropped out of school to apprentice at Yalumba Wines, “ostensibly to be some support to my recently widowed mother,” he says.

“In today’s terms, I would be described as a dropout.” A successful one, true, although the decision would forever change his life. At Yalumba, he spent time in the cellar, in the distillery, and “even a cooperage,” he says.

The experiences proved invaluable, and by 1960, he was the winemaker at Saltram Wines. Then, in the 1970s, after a downturn in the industry, the winery owners instructed him to buy fewer grapes than initially planned from the growers. But he had promised the growers he would buy their grapes, and rather than break the deal, he started a side company to make wine from the leftover grapes.

In 1979, when Saltram was sold to Seagram, he joined the side project — now known as Peter Lehmann of the Barossa — full-time. (“It was pretty clear that Seagram and I weren’t going to see eye to eye,” he says with a laugh.”)

The rest, as the expression goes, is history and Lehmann, now 80, is still making friends and laughter everywhere he goes. “If any of you are coming to Australia, let Norman (from International Cellars, Lehmann’s Western Canadian importer) know,” he says.

And then, a pause.

“He can give me enough warning so I can get out of town.”