The Scholz family have lived at Light Pass, a tiny hamlet in the eastern Barossa Valley since 1845, when 40 year-old Johann Gottfried joined his neighbours to flee the religious persecution of his Silesian homeland, and emigrate to a fertile valley on the other side of the world - the Barossa. Peter Scholz, the sixth generation of the family, graduated from Australia's premier winemaker training institution, Roseworthy Agricultural College in 1979. He served his "apprenticeship" under the guidance of Peter Lehmann - first at Saltram and later at Peter Lehmann Wines - and worked with luminaries such as Andrew Wigan and Charlie Melton over a 20 year period.
Peter made the first vintage of The Willows in 1987 and released his first wine in 1989, when the cellar door opened adjacent to the century old Willows hospital.
In 1999 Peter returned to The Willows as full time winemaker.
