Joseph Ernst Seppelt (1813 - 29 January 1868) was a Prussian[1] winemaker of Seppeltsfield Wine, born in Wüstewaltersdorf (now Walim in Lower Silesia, then part of Prussia) in 1813.
At an early age of being educated in music and arts, Seppelt toured Germany and Italy learning the aspects of tobacco, snuff and liquor production in order to control the family business. In 1849, when the business declined, he migrated to Australia from Silesia with his wife Johanna Charlotte and their three children. Through an agent in London, Seppelt managed to buy land in Adelaide, South Australia. After realizing his tobacco wasn't growing, he moved to the Barossa Valley region in 1851 and named an area Seppeltsfield, South Australia.[2]
He made his first wine in 1867 in his wife's small diary. His wine-making business expanded and managed to sell a lot of his wine to buyers along the Murray River where it was transported via paddle steamer.
On January 29, 1868, survived by his wife and three children—Oscar, Hugo and Ottilie—he died suddenly of Delirium Tremens and was buried at Greenock, South Australia.[3]
After his death, his son Oscar Benno Pedro who was born in 1845, became manager of the Seppeltsfield winery.