Celebrating Fifty-Five Years Making Sparkling Wines!
2026 marks the fifty-fifth anniversary of Howard Anderson producing beautiful sparkling wines.
For Howard Anderson, the winemaking journey started in 1971, when he first joined Seppelt Wines as a winemaker. It was there, at the Great Western Winery that he learnt the process of making sparkling wines, and ultimately, where his passion for the craft began. The early 1970s was a brilliant time to work at Seppelt Wines, with Peter Weste as the winemaker, and Leo Hurley and Harold Carr both nearing retirement with fifty years’ experience each at Great Western, working under the legendary Colin Preece, who was at the helm for more than forty years. Leo Hurley was the winemaking assistant to Colin Preece and Harold Carr was the unrecognised riddling/ disgorging expert.
Howard Anderson spent fourteen years as a winemaker with Seppelt Winers, and during this time he was posted at their Rutherglen winery for a couple of vintages, and so, he got to know the Rutherglen region. When the urge to start his own vineyard and winery took hold, Howard Anderson chose Rutherglen because of the potential he saw there for making rich, full and smooth sparkling reds.
In 1986 while he was winemaker for the old Jolimont Wines in Rutherglen, Howard Anderson was actually the first person in north-east Victoria to make sparkling white and red wines.
Howard and his daughter Christobelle, who is also a winemaker, now work collaboratively at Anderson winery, first established in 1993.
Together they make a range of wines produced from their own vineyard in Rutherglen which they make in the traditional method, all by hand, using different grape varieties suited to the climate in Rutherglen, such as Chenin Blanc, early harvest Muscat, Shiraz, Durif, Tempranillo and Saperavi.
