Max Schubert

Max Edmund Schubert was born on 9 February 1915 at Moculta, on the north-eastern fringe of South Australia's Barossa Valley, the third surviving child of a blacksmith whose family were locally born descendants of German-speaking Silesian migrants. Educated at Nuriootpa Higher Primary School, he began working as an odd-jobs boy at the Nuriootpa winery of Penfold's Wines Pty Ltd at the age of 15 in 1931. He was soon assisting the firm's first chemist, John Farsch, and was later transferred to the Magill winery near Adelaide, where he was apprenticed to head winemaker Alfred Vesey. He studied chemistry at the South Australian School of Mines and Industries, developing a rigorous scientific foundation. He was also tutored by winemaker and chemist Ray Beckwith in the use of pH adjustment with organic acid to prevent bacterial spoilage, a technique that would later prove crucial to Grange's success. Schubert enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1940, serving in the Middle East, North Africa, Greece, and New Guinea. On returning from the war, although initially demoted to cellar-hand, he rose to become Penfolds' first chief winemaker by 1948 at age 33.

• Born 1915 in Moculta, Barossa Valley, to a family of German-Silesian descent.
• Started at Penfolds in 1931 as a 15-year-old messenger and odd-jobs boy at Nuriootpa.
• Studied chemistry at the South Australian School of Mines and learned pH control techniques from Ray Beckwith.
• Named Penfolds' first chief winemaker in 1948 after returning from WWII service.

In the latter part of 1950, Penfolds sent Schubert to Europe to study sherry and port production in Spain and Portugal. As part of a side trip, he traveled to Bordeaux, where he visited first growth estates of the Médoc and tasted rare old vintages guided by vigneron and negociant Christian Cruse. He observed small oak barrels being used to mature and even finish fermentation, a practice virtually unknown in Australia at the time. He saw red wines of extraordinary depth, complexity, and longevity that stood in sharp contrast to the sweet, fortified styles dominating the Australian market. Inspired and energized, Schubert returned to Adelaide with a singular ambition: to create a long-lived Australian red table wine that could rival the greatest wines of France. Because Cabernet Sauvignon was sparsely planted and inconsistent in South Australia at the time, he chose Shiraz as his base variety, sourcing fruit from old bush vines at Magill and Morphett Vale. The first experimental wine was made in 1951, fermented in open concrete vats and then completed in five new, untreated American oak hogsheads, a radical innovation. Schubert named it Grange Hermitage, combining the name of the Penfold family's Magill cottage with the French Rhone appellation Hermitage, the historic synonym for Shiraz. The objective, in his own words, was to produce a big, full-bodied wine containing maximum extraction of all the grape components, capable of living and improving for decades.

• Visited Bordeaux in 1950, tasting aged first growth wines and observing small oak barrel maturation techniques.
• Chose Shiraz over Cabernet Sauvignon due to availability and quality of old-vine material in South Australia.
• Made the first experimental Grange in 1951, completing fermentation in five new American oak hogsheads, a technique unprecedented in Australia.
• Named the wine Grange Hermitage, after the Penfold family cottage at Magill and the Rhone appellation synonymous with Syrah.

The early Grange vintages were met with near-universal hostility. When Schubert presented his experimental wines to Penfolds management, top trade identities, and board members at a Sydney tasting, the response was devastating. Critics dismissed the wines as over-extracted and unpleasant, with one notable comment calling it a very good dry port which no one in their right mind would buy, let alone drink. Others invoked crushed ants and described it as a concoction unfit for sale. By the time of the 1957 vintage, Penfolds board sent written instructions ordering Schubert to cease production immediately, citing unsaleable stock and reputational damage to the company. However, with the quiet support and connivance of Jeffrey Penfold Hyland, a board ally who believed in the wine's potential, Schubert disregarded the order. From 1957 through 1959, he and his team hid the experimental Grange vintages in the depths of the underground cellars at Magill and continued making small quantities in secret, using second-hand oak barrels to avoid attracting the attention of accountants in Sydney. When the Penfolds board eventually sampled the 1951 and 1955 vintages again in the late 1950s, their opinion had shifted dramatically. The wines, which had simply been too young and tannic at first, had aged into wines of remarkable complexity. In 1960, the board officially ordered production of Grange to restart. Schubert reportedly told them he had never stopped.

• Early Grange presentations in Sydney were universally panned, with critics calling the wines over-extracted or port-like.
• In 1957, the Penfolds board issued written instructions to cease Grange production due to unsaleable stock.
• Schubert secretly made the 1957, 1958, and 1959 vintages, hiding them in the Magill cellars with the support of Jeffrey Penfold Hyland.
• Production was officially reinstated for the 1960 vintage after aged early bottles won back the board's approval.

From 1962, when the 1955 Grange was entered into Australian wine shows, the wine began an unprecedented run of medals and trophies that silenced its former critics. The 1955 vintage alone went on to win more than 50 gold medals over the following decades. The 1971 vintage won first prize in Syrah/Shiraz at the Wine Olympics in Paris. Influential wine writer Hugh Johnson described Grange as the one true first growth of the southern hemisphere. The 1990 vintage was named Red Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator magazine in 1995. In 2001, Grange was listed as a South Australian heritage icon on its 50th birthday; it is the only wine to be heritage listed by the South Australian National Trust. In 2017, Grange was classified a First Growth in Liv-ex's recreation of the Bordeaux 1855 classification. Beyond Grange, Schubert also created Penfolds Bin 60A in 1962, a Coonawarra Cabernet and Barossa Shiraz blend that won 33 gold medals and 19 trophies, and was named by Decanter Magazine in 2004 as the only New World wine in their top 10 greatest wines of all time. He is also credited with originating the Penfolds Bin series, starting with Bin 28 in 1959 and Bin 389 in 1960. When he died on 6 March 1994, as that year's Grange grapes were being harvested, the New York Times noted that Grange had won more wine show prizes than any other Australian red wine.

• The 1955 Grange, entered in competitions from 1962, won more than 50 gold medals over its lifetime.
• The 1971 Grange won first prize in Syrah/Shiraz at the Paris Wine Olympics; the 1990 vintage was named Wine Spectator's Red Wine of the Year in 1995.
• Grange is the only wine heritage-listed by the South Australian National Trust and was classified a First Growth by Liv-ex in 2017.
• Schubert also created Bin 60A (1962), the Penfolds Bin series (from 1959), and was instrumental in the creation of Magill Estate Shiraz (first vintage 1983).

Schubert's technical contributions to the Australian wine industry extended far beyond Grange itself. Working alongside Penfolds' scientist Dr Ray Beckwith, he pioneered the use of pH measurement and organic acid adjustment to control bacterial spoilage, at a time when unexplained microbial disasters were a constant threat to Australian cellars. He championed partial barrel fermentation and extended maceration to achieve maximum extraction, using new American oak hogsheads as both fermentation vessels and maturation containers, a practice that would define the Barossa winemaking house style. He was a leader in cold stabilisation of white wine to prevent crystal formation, the use of plastics to eliminate metallic taint, and the adoption of refrigeration in the winery. After becoming national production manager in 1960 and later a Penfolds director from 1968 to 1982, Schubert applied the lessons of Grange across the company's entire red wine range, oversaw the numbered Bin series, and established a central laboratory. Even after leaving full-time employment in 1975, he continued as a technical consultant and was instrumental in creating the Penfolds Magill Estate Shiraz, first released in 1983, a single-vineyard wine that helped save the historic Magill vineyards from urban subdivision.

• Pioneered pH control and organic acid adjustment for bacterial spoilage prevention, developed in collaboration with Dr Ray Beckwith.
• Introduced partial barrel fermentation in new American oak hogsheads, which became the hallmark of the Penfolds house style.
• Led cold stabilisation of white wine and use of plastics to prevent metallic taint, innovations that influenced Australian winemaking broadly.
• As national production manager from 1960 and director from 1968-1982, applied Grange principles across all Penfolds reds and helped create Magill Estate Shiraz (1983).

The honours Schubert received in later life reflected a career of extraordinary impact on Australian wine culture. He was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1984. In 1988 he was named Man of the Year by the UK's Decanter Magazine, one of the wine world's most prestigious individual recognitions. In 1990 he received the inaugural Maurice O'Shea Award, the Australian wine industry's highest honour, awarded in recognition of significant contributions to winemaking, cultivation, innovation, and technology. He was posthumously included in the Sydney Morning Herald's 100 most influential Australians of the century in 2001. In 1997 the Electoral District of Schubert was created in the South Australian House of Assembly, encompassing the Barossa Valley where he was born and began his career. The 1951 Grange, the most expensive Australian wine ever sold at auction, fetched AUD $142,131 at auction in July 2021. Schubert died on 6 March 1994 in Adelaide, aged 79, from emphysema, as the grapes were being harvested for that year's Grange. His vision of producing a full-bodied, age-worthy Australian red capable of rivalling the great wines of the world was vindicated beyond any doubt he could have imagined.

• Appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1984; named Decanter Man of the Year in 1988.
• Won the inaugural Maurice O'Shea Award in 1990, the highest honour in the Australian wine industry.
• Posthumously honoured with the creation of the Electoral District of Schubert in South Australia in 1997.
• The 1951 Grange he created sold at auction in 2021 for AUD $142,131, a record for an Australian wine.