Lost Penny Wines
Meet Nick and Carol - Custodians of a timeless land
Here in the Northern Barossa region of Ebenezer, the oldest Shiraz vines were planted into fertile soils more than 100 years ago.
Their harvest brought hope and opportunity to generations past and they’ve weathered countless seasons.
And it’s this rich and textured history that the Riebke family are determined to both preserve and evolve.
By respecting the old traditions, working with the land using holistic and sustainable principles, yet also incorporating new knowledge and practices.
Devoted to the Barossa
To Carol and Nick, it’s somewhat of a natural progression for them to begin making wine with their own grapes in the Barossa Valley.
Having grown up among the Barossa vines, Carol and Nick earned their pocket money in family vineyards.
Carol near Angaston, and Nick on the same Ebenezer blocks that today produces the bounty of fruit used in Lost Penny Wines.
Their combined knowledge, passion, family heritage and dedication to preserving Barossa winemaking traditions have all been poured into Lost Penny Wines.
Our rich family history
Nick and Carol are now the sixth generation of the Riebke family to call the Barossa home.
Here in Ebenezer, their Riebke home is surrounded by a lush patchwork of vineyards, rolling hills, majestic gums and the gorgeous stonework, timber and iron of a bygone era.
The story began when their ancestors arrived with the earliest German and European immigrants who have since shaped the rich culture and traditions that the Barossa is so well known for today.
Almost 165 years ago, Johann and his wife Johanna Louise began a 15 week voyage aboard ‘La Rochelle’ from the port of Hamburg. They left their homeland of Haste in Prussia with their young children, to escape the religious oppression of King Frederick William III and start a new life.
Like so many of the ship’s 487 passengers who arrived on 3 September 1855, Johann was an agriculturalist who worked the land.
Four generations of grapegrowing
Johann and Johanna Louise’s youngest son, Friedrich Ernst, married Bertha Rosina Melisch and it was their second of five sons – Nick’s great grandfather – Paul Heinrich Riebke who married Augusta Bertha Gunder in 1907.
Paul and Bertha inherited vineyards from Bertha’s parents – and it was here that the Riebke grapegrowing lineage began.
The same blocks that are worked today have been passed down through the family from Paul and Bertha, to Nick’s grandfather Paul, father Leon and now Nick.
With the next generation still so young, we will wait to see where their heart’s lead them.
Why Lost Penny?
Nick and Carol Riebke are extremely proud and excited to join together as a family to produce their very own premium Barossa wines.
All from the same family blocks in Ebenezer, Barossa Valley, that their family has worked since the late 1800s.
But, the story of Lost Penny Wines has deep roots.
It began five generations ago, after their ancestors came to the Barossa to escape religious persecution in Germany. They brought with them Shiraz cuttings on the ship, with the hope of beginning a new life.
Lost treasure found among the vines
In the property’s old house in the late 1800’s, they would make wine to service the local social gatherings! Back then, the tight-knit German community would join together, and head out into the vineyard after enjoying a few tipples.
A few guests must have lost their feet, as well as the coins from their pockets!
Nick and Carol stumbled across a number of these old lost pennies on the block from the years gone by, marvelling at their discovery.
They wanted to honour this connection to their heritage, and this is why Lost Penny Wines has now been born.
