Bill Crappsley

Bill Crappsley is a well-known name and face within the Australian wine industry - as he should be, having racked up more than 40 years in a business he continues to love with a genuine passion. Starting out in ’64 as a cellar hand with the Houghton Wine Company - where he worked under the legendary Jack Mann - Bill moved to South Australia in 1968 and spent two years with a winery consulting firm, working vintages at Seaview, d’Arenberg, Redman and Tullochs.

He later joined Basedows of the Barossa as a winemaker/winery manager, spending six vintages there and winning over 350 show awards and trophies for a number of different wine styles. He gained a solid reputation for producing elegant shiraz styles and produced the first Basedow White Burgundy, a partially oak matured Semillon, in 1974. He returned home to WA in 1977, taking up a similar position at Evans & Tate, where he set the style for one of the state’s best-known wines, the Margaret River Classic.

Rejuvenating Sandalford Wines was a challenge he took on in ’93, and as senior winemaker he revolutionised the wine styles, achieving tremendous success overall but particularly with barrel-fermented chardonnays and shiraz. Together with his brother Doug, Bill owns a property in Margaret River and they’ve been quietly developing a small, high-quality vineyard over the past 16 years.

Since 2002, Bill has been consultant in charge of winemaking at Rosabrook Wines Pty Ltd in Margaret River and he also consults to the Porongurup contract winery in the Great Southern region of WA.