Frank Potts was born in 1815, three weeks after the Battle of Waterloo, into an England of hope and glory. Salt seemed to seep through his blood, for he joined the Royal Navy at the age of nine, taking his first commission on Nelson's famous HMS Victory. Barefoot and bare-chested he sailed around the world avoiding cholera and the cat of nine tails before arriving in South Australia in the first landing party in 1836, with just a chest of carpentry tools to his name.

He started colonial life as a 21 year old boat builder in Port Adelaide, was promoted to harbour master and pilot, constructed his own ketch Petrel, and became a trader of onions, wheat, sea birds, seal oil and skins from Kangaroo Island to the mainland.

Selling his boat and first home in Port Adelaide, he purchased the first sections of land on the fertile Bremer River at Langhorne Creek, cleared the land and started farming.

He planted his first vines in 1858 selling wine to Thomas Hardy, before expanding his holdings to 30 acres in the 1860s.

Ironically, it was Frank Potts' abilities as a sailor that led him to Langhorne Creek - and the life of a landlubber winemaker and vigneron.

He saw the potential of the region when he explored it in the 1850s, convinced that the stands of tall red gums promised fertile soils and reliable water.

Since Frank's journey Langhorne Creek's alluvial soils and surprisingly cool climate, nurtured by maritime breezes, has attracted many famous winemakers.