OUR HISTORY
1839
ARRIVING INTO THE NEW COLONY OF ADELAIDE
January 26th 1839, Johann George Mattner (43 years old) accompanied by wife & 6 children after 4 months at sea arrived in Port Adelaide, South Australia aboard the ship ‘Catherina’. They had sailed from the village of Kuschten (Posen), Prussia escaping religious persecution to start a new life.
As with most German migrants, they first settled in the riverside village of Klemzig (suburb of Adelaide) where they leased land and commenced primary production to fill the short supplies of fresh produce in much demand from the town folk who now populate the young colony of Adelaide, with a growing population reaching 5000.
1843
PIONEERING THE BAROSSA VALLEY
Johann and family were among the earliest groups of German migrants to push North and pioneer the town of Langmeil (now Tanunda), Barossa Valley. It was here they leased land from English philanthropist and Commissioner of the South Australian Company, George Fife Angas.
Here Johann continued mixed farming of cereal crops, vegetables, vine garden and livestock.
Langmeil (Tanunda) area is now home to the oldest surviving Shiraz vines anywhere in the world which was first planted in 1843.
BUILDING FIRST CHURCH & SCHOOL
Johann George Mattner was foundation member and helped build Langmeils first Lutheran Church and school.
By 1845 they had also built the first school and my great, great, great grandmother Johanna Dorethea Mattner began her education as a founding student.
1844
1846
SETTLERS ON JACOBS CREEK
Johann George Mattner and eldest son (Gottfried) purchased 82 acres of land (section 2708 in the Hundred of Barossa) for two pounds per acre. This property was bordered by the banks of Jacob's Creek in the Rowland Flat area.
The neighbours were William and Jon Jacobs to the West and on the East boundry was Johann Gramp (now Orlando / Pernod Ricard) Winery and home to the first vine garden planted on Jacobs Creek in 1847.
PIONEERING JACOBS CREEK
Johann George Mattner moved the family from Langmeil to the Jacobs Creek property in Rowland Flat area where the family continued mix farming of wheat, barley, vegetables and vine garden along with cattle, pigs and goats.
1847
1856
EARLY DAYS OF PIONEERING JACOBS CREEK
By 1857 second generation daughter Johanna Dorethea Mattner married recent arrival Johann August Magen at the Bethany Church. They went on to have 11 children with eldest born in 1864 - Johann Friedrich (Fred) Magen (3rd generation).
Continue to plant more vine garden and establish small winery.
JACOBS CREEK VINEYARD DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES
George Mattner passed away (88 yrs) and is buried in Langmeil cemetry.
August & Dorethea Magen inherit the families Jacob’s Creek property
1883
1893
JACOBS CREEK FAMILIES STRENGTHEN TIES
Johann Friedrich Magen married Bertha Emilie Nitschke from across the creek and they go on to have 6 children. Eldest being Stanely Magen born in 1905 (4th Generation)
Further vineyard and small winery developments.
THE NOMENCLATURE ACT (THE FAMILY CHANGES NAME MAGEN to MORGEN)
Because of the ongoing war against Germany and subsequent anti-German sentiment, many place names with German origins were changed through petitions and Acts of Parliament.The village of Langmeil name changed to Bilyara and today it is now known as Tanunda. This anti-German sentiment saw many German migrants locked up into internment camps across South Australia as the Government was paranoid on the possibility of them being enemy spy. Fred Magen changed the family surname to Morgen (sounded more English) so to avoid any attention and risk of internment.
1916
1929
JACOBS CREEK VINEYARD CONTINUE GROWTH
1920- Fred planted more vineyard on Jacobs creek with the help of two boys from Adelaide Orphanage who in exchange for labour were given a home & keep (fortunately Fred was a kind & fair man so treated these State children with respect - unlike a number of other old German families in the district who treated these poor kids like unpaid slaves..).
1929 - Stanley Morgen married Clara Stelzer. They had 6 chidren, eldest born in 1931 - Dennis Keith Morgen (5th Generation)
Dennis childhood was mostly spent shadowing his grandfather (Fred), a very kind & patient man who shared much knowledge & wisdom in grape-growing, farming & winemaking.
DENNIS (14 YRS) BEGINS WINERY CELLAR EMPLOYMENT
After attending Rowlands Flat school, Dennis father forced him to leave school at young age to help support family and work the vineyard although frustrations with his father drove him (at 14 yrs) to gain employment at Wonganella Winery (now Gomersal) under Anton Fromm & Bill Schrapel who were great teachers and looked after him well. A young wine chemist who just arrived in Australia by the name of Hermann Thumm (later established Chataeu Yaldara) arrived to work at Wonganella not long after.
1944
1947
EARLY DEATH OF STANLEY MORGEN
Stanley Morgen died at age 41 (truck accident).
Eight months following, Clara (wife) gave birth to their youngest daughter.
Dennis (16 yrs) went home and took control of the Jacobs Creek property to become the sole provider for his mother and 5 siblings.
Dennis soon chose to bulldoze the small winery & equipment on the Jacob’s Creek vineyard into the side of the hill , due to the neglected nature of the property the structure had become too unsafe.
DENNIS EXPANDS JACOBS CREEK VINEYARD
Dennis Morgen married Beryl Withers
Together they further developed Jacob’s Creek vineyard and mixed farming of Barossa Ranges ‘high country’ with livestock of 100 pigs, 15 dairy cows and a wood yard.
In addition, they share farmed 20 acres of vineyard with the Kies family at Lyndoch.
1952
1957
BIRTH OF MORGEN TWINS (SURPRISE-6TH GENERATION x 2)
Jane & Susan Morgen (unexpected twins) came as quite the shock discovery at birth
JACOBS CREEK VINEYARD SOLD AFTER 111 YEARS
Dennis purchased 55 acres of vineyard in Monash, Riverland planted to Shiraz and Grenache.
1963
1968
VINDANA WINERY ESTABLISHED
Dennis owes success to his initial failure. If his first crop had been accepted by the established wineries he might never have got further than his own vineyard. In a sheer leap of faith at a time he had no choice but to crush the grapes himself and then try to sell the produce of his fledgling winery. Vindana began production in a small shed on the property, crushing 30 tonnes of grapes and extracting 20 cubic metres of wine in their first year with help from a friend in Doug Collett (wine chemist). Most of the wine produced that year was sold in bulk to d’Arenberg Wines, Kay Brothers (McLaren Vale) and Basedows (Barossa Valley).
UNCLE ALF SCHOLZ (PENFOLDS MANAGER)
Uncle Alf was a great support and source of knowledge that helped Dennis in the early days to achieve success with the winery.
*Alf was instrumental at Penfolds throughout his long career in the industry and was credited with being the person who'm in 1936 employed Max Schubert as an 'errand boy'.
1968
1969
MEL BELL (RETIRED WINEMAKER - SEPPELTSFIELD)
Mel Bel retired after 50 years service as Winemaker / Manager (Seppeltsfield Wines) and joined Vindana as part-time consultant and much-valued mentor until unfortunatly he passed away, but not before gifting his lifetime of treasured winemaking, viticulture & distilling notes & journals onto Dennis.
DISTILLATION BEGINS
In a period where Fortified wine and Brandy dominated the market, it was natural evolution for the company to develop a distillation program so a new ‘H. Jennings Copper Pot Still’ was installed. The winery crushed 1700 tonnes of grapes that year with expansion of winery building to accommodate larger production along with upgraded Basket Press capacity; new concrete and stainless steel storage tanks were installed along with an automated bottling line.
In addition, new brands were launched to market:
-Vindana Premier Port
- Vindana Vintage Port
- Vindana 1969 Cabernet Sauvignon
- Vindana Shiraz Port
1970
1972
VINDANA’S NEW LOOK
Vindana operations grew with annual crush of 6000 tonnes and the installation of a second bottling line specifically for sparkling wines, which facilitated the launch of the first Australian 'fruit flavoured - pop wines’ - Passionwein, Orangewein, Applewein etc.
Other brands launched included:
-Vindana Sparkling Red Burgundy
-Vindana Sparkling White
-Vindana Sparkling Wein Spritz
-Morgen’s Carbonated Spumate
-Morgen’s Carbonated White Duck
-Morgen’s Carbonated Cold Duck
-Morgen’s Champers
-Morgen’s Wein Spritz
DENNIS MORGEN, JANE MORGEN, JACK GRAVES (winemaker)
Jane & Sue Morgen join the family business at 17 yrs old and the ‘twins’ very quickly integrate the business across various departments of Administration, Marketing, Finance & Distribution.
1974
1977
WHAT GOES UP COMES DOWN..
Jane Morgen married Graeme Higginson
Vindana production had expanded out to annual crush of 17,000 tonnes grapes.
Government imposed wholesale tax hike from 20cents/gallon to some 70cents/ gallon (including whats already in stock). in addition, new Legislation passed requiring wineries grape payments to growers be settled by September of each vintage year even though stock is yet to be sold.
7TH GENERATION SCOTTY
Vindana crushed 6,500 tonnes despite having half of the 1977 vintage still not sold in tank.
Melbourne Warehouse Distribution Centre was established with additional Bottling Line installed. Some eight (8) Sales Reps were employed in an attempt to boost revenue from a depressed market.
Scott Graeme Higginson (7th Generation), born eldest son of Jane & Graeme Higginson weighing 11.5 pounds (5.2kg)
*dubbed second largest baby ever to be born in South Australia.
1978
1984
DARK DAYS FOR THE INDUSTRY - VINE-PULL SCHEME
By 85' Dennis had sold-out to Langwarra Wine Co.and the new winery owners re-branded to WeinValley Estates which only traded for a short period before being on-sold again. The 80’s was a decade many in the wine industry like to forget, with a government funded vine-pull scheme where growers were paid $1/per vine incentive to rip out their vineyards so as to reduce fruit over-supply that was crippling the entire industry which resulted in many old vine plantations being lost. These were dark days for the entire Australian wine industry that extended into the early 90's before many recovered, at this point Norman's Wines Ltd had taken ownership of the winery.
AGRICULTURAL & VINEYARD FOCUS
Despite industry down-turn Jane Higginson (nee Morgen) maintained the grit and tenacity learnt from her father and continued managing family vineyards.
Dennis shifted focus towards other agricultural investments, although only a short period of absence from viticulture as he soon went on to purchase another vineyard.
1985
1993
PASSING OF KNOWLEDGE & TRADITION
Scott as the eldest grandson spent most of his early years growing up among the vineyards in the shadow of Dennis who patiently shared with him much knowledge and wisdom.
Although he was never pressured to take up a vocation in wine, Scott recalls an early lesson in sensory evaluation with his ‘Pop’, as a teenager at the breakfast table he observed his grandfather ‘nose’ a jar of plum jam..
Tongue in cheek, he looked at his grandfather and asked ‘ hey, forgotten what jam smells like old fella’, which was received with a gentle smile before Dennis proceeded to pass him the jar and asked that he do the same. Scott obliged and responded ‘smells ok to me’, and thought nothing more of it.
Scott always recalls that wine and alcohol was treated with respect in the household and older children were not discouraged from accepting a ‘single serve’ of wine at dinner if curious, so the following evening when Dennis opened a bottle of red, he asked Scott ‘smell that, tell me what it smells like?’ Scotts reply, ‘wine’.
Dennis responded with ‘what did you smell at breakfast yesterday’, followed by a moment of silence then a cheeky smile and nothing else was said on the topic. Scott recalls the following days of curiosity that burned inside as to how and why that wine smelt like plum jam?
Given the amiable relationship Scott was drawn to early conclusions that it was a light-heart prank of humour, and despite numerous enquiry as to how, why? Scott never got a satisfying answer, just a smile. Scott now says, ‘I believe that was the catalyst, that truly awoke my senses and a curiosity towards wine evolved from that’
ROSEWORTHY COLLEGE - SCHOOL OF WINEMAKING
Scott commenced tertiary studies at University of Adelaide in Wine Marketing & Agricultural Business for 3 years at Roseworthy Agricultural College.
1995
1996
JUST CANT RETIRE
Diagnosed with leukaemia several years earlier Dennis was determined to fight it although due to ailing health and the on-going absence of Scott away at university the workload and remoteness was becoming a challenge so he had decided to finally consolidate and sell the last of his vineyards and farming properties.
In doing so his health responded positively, so off he went again and purchased san mateo vineyard (20 acres).Doesnt now how to stop..
1999
VINTAGE EXPERIENCE IN THE OLD VINDANA CELLARS
Upon graduation from Roseworthy, Scott is welcomed back into the old Vindana cellars (now owned by Normans Wines), by long-time family friend and previous Vindana business partner Chris Grigoriou. Vintage cellar hand & assistant to winemaker on the very site his grandfather built some 30+ years earlier..
YOUTHFUL OPPORTUNITIES
Scott goes on to work with some highly regarded industry producers over a 20 year period that included names like Murphy (Tremtham Estate), Fosters Group (Penfolds, Wolf Blass, Carlton & United Breweries), Mike Farmilo ex-Penfolds Chief winemaker (Boars Rock).
Dennis got quite ill by early 2000, so Scott also assumed greater responsibility in family vineyard business.
Dennis passed away in February, 2003 aged 70 yrs
2000
A LEAP OF FAITH IN LYNDOCH
Scott purchased a small parcel of land, in the Barossa Valley (Lyndoch) where he relocates his 7-month pregnant wife, Lyndsey, from her comfortable Adelaide bungalow nest.
He begins ‘tinkering’with his own wine in the back shed
8th Generation- Molly Higginson first daughter of Scott & Lyndsey was born.
2013
2018
THE LEGACY LIVES ON
Following five years of ‘tinkering’ with a few tonne annually, the bootlegging days were over –
Vindana Wines was re-launched coincidentally, 50 years to the near exact date of when his grandfather first crushed grapes in 1968.
The family legacy lives on…