Gottfried Kaesler had died in 1873. His son Daniel prospered from the sale of hay, and took up a number of properties. He sought land to provide farms for his six sons and at one time the Kaeslers owned land on the other side of Barossa Valley Way opposite the present holding and the areas now occupied by the Kaiser Stuhl (Southport) winery and the nearby Tarac plant. The Kaesler lands were noted as some of the "tidiest" in the district.

On April 23 1891 Daniel bought the Domke 60 acre-block for his fifth son, Paul Hermann Kaesler. He also acquired "40 acres or thereabouts", part of Section 134, which almost joined Section 122 in the northeastern corner. Some four acres of this were surrendered to the South Australian Railways Commissioner in 1911. Daniel took out a mortgage with the Gramps to finance the purchases.

Paul Hermann Kaesler, born in 1880, was only 11 when his blocks were bought. So it appears the whole extended family moved in to clear away the light scrub and tussocks that covered his future inheritance.

In 1893 the total area was planted with vines. The Kaeslers now knew exactly what to grow. They planted Shiraz, Grenache, Mataro and, in case it should become important, a little "White Hermitage" - probably Semillon.

It was the beginning of a hard struggle. Most of the grapes went off to Seppelts for port or sherry, but even without fortifying it was noticed that in some dry summers the ripe fruit produced wine up to 19% alcohol.

Paul Hermann became the official owner on July 1 1907 and a year later paid off the mortgage held by the Gramps.

In 1917 with grape sales flagging, Paul Hermann pulled up three acres of Shiraz and planted apricots for drying. In the early 1940s he pulled out another three acres and put in peaches. Later he added a couple of acres of prunes. But some more Grenache was planted, apparently in the 1930s.

Three Kaesler sons, Ernst, Arthur and Peter began to take over the running of the property from their father. In November 1944 he transferred the land to them.

Arthur, the youngest, gained the 30-acre "home" block, where the winery, cellar door, restaurant and accommodation are now. Ernst, the eldest, took the "30 acres, 1 rod, 20 perches or thereabouts" immediately to the south along Barossa Valley Way. Peter took the 36 acres in Section 134 fronting the Angaston Road. It was separated from the "home" block by a right of way "about 40 rows of vines long" and three metres wide.
He sold his holding in the 1960s.

Arthur saw no future in dried fruit, and in 1961 and 1962 pulled out the fruit trees and replaced them with vines, mostly Shiraz and Grenache, still mainly for port. He also planted Mataro "just to have something different", Clare Riesling (Crouchen) and some Semillon.

"The demand for port dropped off by 1962 and the other wine styles hadn't caught on," Arthur recalled. "We couldn't get rid of anything. It was hard."

Even the magical 1893 Shiraz was ignored. "No one wanted it," Arthur said. He recalled one year in the 1970s when the search for a buyer saw the fruit remain on the vine long after normal vintage. Finally, when he managed to get Thum's at Lyndoch to take it "the juice looked like blood." When its sugar content was measured, the Baume was 18%. Arthur also recalled that it took 2-1/2 years to be paid the $125 a tonne.

It was difficult to survive, but Arthur's foresight in extending the acreage of Shiraz was a crucial investment in the future. This same foresight, and probably stubbornness, kept him from taking the ill-fated swing into white wine in the 1980s. He ignored the "vine pull" that hurt the future of the valley.