Nicole is seventh generation John family in the Barossa Valley, and the John’s have had a long, continual association with the wine industry over these years.

Nicole is born and bred in Barossa, completing her schooling at Faith College in Tanunda. She continued her family’s connection with brass bands by joining the Tanunda Band while in high school.  Bucking the trend of working in the wine industry, she studied music at university before joining the Band of South Australia Police.

Here Nicole spent two years performing across Australia and around the world before changing her focus.  She joined the Police Academy and spent the following eight years as a patrol officer in Adelaide, the Riverland, and Gawler.

When Nicole took a break from the academy in XX, she undertook two vintages at Yalumba, then a stint as a personal assistant, before returning to university; she gained her Bachelor of Music with Honours on French Horn.

For the last four years, Nicole has worked and continues to work, as a professional freelance musician and instrumental teacher.  This is of course between making gin for Seppeltsfield Rd Distillers.

Jon is a country boy, growing up in the Adelaide Plains towns of Hamley Bridge and Balaklava. Jon also has a long connection with the Barossa Valley, where he is a life member of the Tanunda town band, after more than twenty years as a musician and committee member (where he and Nicole met).

A Chartered Accountant with a background education in chemistry, Jon spent ten years in accounting roles; supporting the development of significant projects with accounting firm Deloitte, running a financial consulting business, and most recently working with a major UK based defence company.

Jon and Nicole moved to the UK in late 2014 to pursue his career.  Faced with the daunting task of beginning her music career all over again in a new country, Nicole started to think about her next chapter.  Together they began discussing potential alternative career options, and the possibility of more study. After discounting many, many options, Nicole asked, “Well, what do you think I should do?”.  To which Jon randomly replied, “You should be a gin distiller.”  And with that simple response, a new career was born, as they began researching, planning and building their distillery.

Ready to return to Australia, and with the draw of the Barossa calling, Seppeltsfield Rd Distillers is an exciting project for Nicole and Jon as it brings together their creativity, business, and technical skills to create a brand, product, and experience they can’t wait to share with the world.