Peter Rumball spent his first winemaking years (1972 - 1976) in the Clare Valley of South Australia making classic dry white and red wines. But as all winemakers do, by 1983, he was stretching his abilities and had started making trial batches of sparkling red from Coonawarra Shiraz. The early experimental tirages were stirred in a 200L drum and filled into bottles by hand. Rumball started making trial sparkling shiraz by the "Methode Champenoise" (MC) and to this day he still uses this intensive, time consuming method. The method involves secondary fermentation, ageing, and subsequent disgorgement all from the one bottle, thereby giving superior finished wines. By 1985 he was making more sparkling red, and in early 1988 released the first commercial Non-Vintage (NV) Rumball Sparkling Shiraz. Today, the Rumball is a classic Australian style.