Read More About Chris Pfeiffer

Read More About Robyn Pfeiffer

Read More About Jen Pfeiffer

Pictures of our Pfeiffer Team

Extract from "The Winemakers Of Rutherglen" by Helen Mortensen

Pfeiffer Wines.......

"Mellowed with age and shaded by huge pine trees, with a pattern of interesting planes and angles in its galvanised iron roof, Pfeiffer's winery sits on a high embankment above a sweeping bend in the Sunday Creek near Wahgunyah.

This romantic place has been the scene of human follies, tragedy and traditional winemaking. In modern times it represents a re-affirmation of faith in Rutherglen's wine industry by two people, willing to stake their own future in the district they love.

A French community settled this area of Wahgunyah. The winery was built in 1895 by Monsieur Joseph Gassies, whose vineyards were on the opposite banks of Sunday Creek where Pfeiffer's Sunday Creek vineyard now flourishes. Next door at the Tuileries vineyard lived Camille Reau, who is remembered as the last Rutherglen winemaker whose employees crushed grapes with their feet.

There was no Sunday Creek bridge in those days. In order to get to his vineyard Monsieur Joseph Gassies was obliged to pass through Camille Reau's land, to use a safe crossing. This arrangement proved satisfactory until a serious rift between the two neighbours led to Camille Reau demanding that Gassies find his own way across the creek. Monsieur Joseph Gassies devised a flying fox, then a primitive punt using a row-boat and a pulley.

Almost inevitably there was an accident, and Gassies was believed to have drowned. There were no witnesses and surprisingly, no mention of an inquest appeared in the newspapers of the day.

Gassies' winery was sold and during a period of strong demand for fortified wines it was enlarged by the noted Rutherglen partnership of Masterton and Dobbin, to become a distillery for the production of fortifying spirit. A brick house was built nearby for Charles Leonard Dobbin, and now serves as a comfortable home for the Pfeiffer family. The distillery was sold to B. Seppelt and Sons in 1942. Seppelt continued to distil fortifying spirit here until 1979.

In 1984, the sale of Seppelt interests at Rutherglen offered Chris and Robyn Pfeiffer an opportunity to return to the district. Chris had worked as a winemaker for Lindemans at Corowa, and they both loved the area.

Chris first bought Robyn to see the old distillery on Good Friday, 1984. He could not have chosen a worse day. Rain cascaded through the distillery's rust-damaged roof, and drenched an untidy mess below. Loose sheets of iron flapped in the wind, making a din that echoed eerily through the empty cellars. Even the ghost of Monsieur Joseph Gassies - which disturbs visitors from time to time - declined to appear on that uncharacteristic autumn day.

Right from the start, Chris could see past this terrible mess into a brighter future for this grand old establishment. He managed to enthuse Robyn and, on the second try, a bank manager. Later, looking at Robyn's "before and after" photographs, the bank manager admitted that had he personally inspected the property he may not have approved the loan!