Community leader and classically trained winemaker, Bill Seppelt provided a conduit between the Barossa and its Old World winemaking foundations. Bill was the great grandson of Joseph Seppelt who migrated from Silesia, Germany in 1849 and established the Seppeltsfield empire.

A graduate of Trinity Grammar School in Melbourne, he served his apprenticeship at the family's winery at Great Western in Victoria as well as Seppeltsfield. In 1935 he travelled overseas to study at the Ecole Nationale D'Agriculture, Montpellier and the University of Montpellier, France. A plan to study in Spain was cut short by Civil War and he narrowly escaped Bloody Sunday in Madrid 1936.

He was appointed Manager of Seppeltsfield in 1940, becoming the custodian of the world's oldest collection of tawny ports for the next 30 years.

Despite his winemaking skill, Bill is best remembered in the Barossa as the inspiration behind the Barossa Vintage Festival. He brought the idea of a vintage thanksgiving from Europe and organised the first Vintage Festival Ball in 1947, to re-unite the community after World War II.

In 1967 Bill was honoured by induction to the Commanderie Du Bontemps Du Medoc Et Des Graves, at Chateau Margaux, France.