By now Penfolds was known for its tawnies, sherries and dessert wines, along with a smaller offering of Claret and Burgundy red wine styles all made under the supervision of Cellarmaster Alf Vesey, a stalwart of 69 vintages and Master Blender who had worked for Mary Penfold and would train Max Schubert as his understudy during the late 1930s.

To keep up with production demand, Penfolds expanded at a rapid pace, acquiring new cellars and wineries in New South Wales, including Sydney, Minchinbury and the Hunter Valley, and in South Australia. A state-of-the-art winery was bu lt at Nuriootpa in 1911 and the investment would pay off by 1920, Penfolds wine would account for half of all wine sales in Australia. By the 1930s Penfolds advertisements could be found in almost every newspaper in the country and its signage dominated the streets of Australia s major cities.  

Great discoveries

In 1931, a 16-year-old Max Schubert was employed at Nuriootpa as a Laboratory Assistant and in 1935, after showing aptitude for winemaking, he was transferred to the Magill Cellars to further his education with Alf Vesey. In the same year, a brilliant young research scientist named Ray Beckwith was hired to help solve the technical challenges of winemaking.

After the Second World War, dry table wines enjoyed increased market share among new immigrants from Italy, Greece and Eastern Europe and returning soldiers Penfolds predicted this market shift, acquiring the Auldana and Kalimna vineyards in 1943 and 1945, respectively, to diversify production (although fortified wine production would remain important for another 20 years).

By 1950, with the support of General Manager Alfred Scholz (the creator of Penfolds Grandfather Port), Dr Ray Beckwith introduced a preventative style of winemaking to reduce spoilage of wine. His discovery, which was

initially kept secret by Penfolds management, profoundly impacted the world of fine wine but not before Penfolds had a number of years to obtain a competitive advantage over other wineries (Dr Beckwith s pH discoveries have now become standard practice in the Australian winemaking industry).

It was also around this time that recently appointed Senior Winemaker Max Schubert undertook a fateful research trip to Europe that would usher in a new era of winemaking at Penfolds it was during a visit to Bordeaux that the idea of a long-lived red wine first entered Schubert s imagination, inspiring his first vintage of Grange Hermitage in 1951.

Schubert s self-belief was unwavering. His early vintages of Grange were not well received by management, who were unconvinced that an age-worthy red wine requiring years of cellaring before release was a sound investment. As one well-known (and unnamed) critic told him upon its release: Schubert, I congratulate you. A very good, dry port, which no one in their right mind will buy let alone drink.

But Max Schubert never lost faith in his Grange project. Even when Penfolds management ordered production to discontinue in 1957, he carried on making the wine in secret, albeit with some compromises including maturation for just nine months in seasoned rather than new American oak hogsheads.

Although considered uncommercial in 1957, good news about Schubert s unique Grange Hermitage began to filter out. Max Schubert and co-conspirator Jeffrey Penfold Hyland were finally able to convince management to officially reinstate production just in time for the 1960 vintage.

Above: Alf Vesey and Max Schubert in the Magill laboratory in 1946. Schubert s handwriting: A E Vesey who taught me all he knew about wine blending

Below: The entrance to Penfolds Magill Estate in 1920

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