Sevenhill Cellars
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Sevenhill SA 5453
Australia
Sevenhill Cellars was established by Austrian Jesuits who came to South Australia as chaplains to a group of 130 Catholics, which fled Europe to escape political and religious oppression.
Two priests, Father Aloysius Kranewitter and Father Maximillian Klinkowstrom, arrived in Adelaide with a party led by Franz Weikert, a Silesian farmer, who had a vision of establishing a community in South Australia which could enjoy religious freedom.
The immigrants settled near the township of Clare and the Jesuits, impressed by the fertility of the local soil, purchased 100 acres of land in 1851, naming it Sevenhill after the Seven Hill district of Rome.
Sevenhill Cellars was established in the following years to provide sacramental wine in the emerging Catholic parishes around Australia. The underground cellar was excavated by hand and the winery building was constructed from stone quarried on the property. There have been seven Jesuit winemakers at Sevenhill, the most recent of whom is Jesuit Winemaker Emeritus, Brother John May, SJ, who still works closely with the winemaking team and is a passionate advocate of Sevenhill and the Clare Valley.
Local stone was also used to build Sevenhill's two other religious landmarks. St Aloysius' Church, substantially completed in 1875, has the only crypt below a parish church in Australia, which is the final resting place for 41 Jesuits. The College building was South Australia's first Catholic secondary school from 1856-1886 and also housed the Jesuit community. Today, it remains the Jesuits' home and is also a centre for programs involving retreats and spiritual formation. As the only remaining Jesuit-owned winery in Australia, residing Jesuits are actively involved in Sevenhill's development in partnership with lay staff who share the ethos of building the Jesuit Mission to support works of charity and compassion in Australia.
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Regions
- Clare Valley
- Mount Lofty Ranges
- Polish Hill River
- South Eastern Australia
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Established by the Jesuits in 1851, Sevenhill Cellars is the oldest and arguably the finest existing winery in South Australia's world famous Clare Valley wine region. read more
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