AUS: Wine industry mourns Peter Lehmann

(TheShout) - Barossa Valley legend Peter Lehmann has been remembered as a larrikin, a shrewd businessman and a winemaker who put the interests of grapegrowers above his own.

Lehmann suffered from kidney disease and died today in hospital in Adelaide, according to reports. He was aged 82.

Lehmann started his winemaking career in 1947 at Yalumba, before joining Saltram Wines in 1960, and founding Peter Lehmann Wines in 1979.

Peter Lehmann Wines CEO Jeff Bond told TheShout the company was saddened by the loss. 

"He's a legend of the industry and it's a bit of a shock for us," he said.

"We're sad for his family, he leaves behind Margaret, his beloved wife and collaborator and their two boys David and Phil and of course Doug and Libby from Peter's first marriage as well," said Bond.

Wine writer Huon Hooke told TheShout that Lehmann was often underestimated in business.

"One of the great things about Lehmann to me is he was such a larrikin, such a loveable bugger, but underneath that he was incredibly smart," he said.

"People took him for someone less intelligent, less insightful, but he was actually a very good businessman." 

Hooke said Lehmann would be remembered for sticking up for the grapegrowers, "even when his own livelihood was on the line".

"I think he was looked upon as a hero, the kind of person that we just don't see many of – people of such incredible integrity," he said.

Richard Mattner, senior winemaker for Saltram's Pepperjack label, told TheShout that Lehmann was a huge part of Saltram's history.