The winery was founded by the English doctor Dr Christopher Rawson Penfold (1811-1870) and his wife Mary in 1844 near Adelaide in the Barossa Valley (South Australia). This makes it one of the oldest Australian wineries. Penfold had studied medicine and was convinced of the health benefits of wine. He planted the first vineyard in Magill near his stone house, known as "The Grange" (small estate), using vines he had brought with him from France. For over 100 years, they mainly produced fortified wines in the sherry and port style and brandies, most of which were exported to England. After the founder's death, his wife Mary took over the management. She was succeeded in 1884 by her daughter Georgina and her husband Thomas Hyland. In 1881, the annual production was already around 500,000 litres.

Ownership structure

The family business was converted into a company in 1921. The vineyards were extensively expanded. During the Second World War (1939-1945), the production of fortified wines in the sherry and port style increased again. After the war, Jeffrey Penfold Hyland (grandson of the founder) took over the management and switched production back to table wines. The family remained at the helm of the company until 1976. In that year, Penfolds was taken over by the Tooth & Co brewery, which then sold it to Adelaide Steamship in 1982. They finally sold all their wineries to the multi Southcorp in 1990. This was then taken over by drinks multinational Foster's Group in 2005, which spun off all its wine activities into a separate, listed company called Treasury Wine Estates in May 2011, to which the former Penfolds Group now also belongs.

Entry of Max Schubert

The famous wine pioneer Max Schubert...