Johann Gramp was born on 28 August 1819 in Aichig (Kulmbach) near Kulmbach in Bavaria,[1][2][3] where his father was a landowner.[2] In 1837, he left Hamburg to migrate to Australia.[1] The journey took four months, sailing on the 'Solway' via Rio de Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope.[2][4] He arrived in Kingscote on Kangaroo Island on 16 October 1837.[1]
From 1837 to 1839, he worked for the South Australian Company on Kangaroo Island.[1] From 1839 to 1840, he worked for the same company, but in Port Adelaide, a suburb of Adelaide.[1] Shortly after, he worked in a bakery in Adelaide.[1][2]
He started a new life as a farmer in Yatala.[2] In 1847, he moved to the Barossa Valley in rural South Australia and settled near Jacob's Creek.[1][2][3] That same year, he planted his first vine there.[2][3][4][5] Three years later, in 1850, he produced an octave of wine,[1] a hock later known as Carte Blanche.[1] Later, he purchased more land to expand his vineyard and added a cellar to his estate.[1]
After ten years of living in the Barossa Valley, he was elected to serve on the Barossa East District Council in the 1860s, eventually serving as its chairman.[1] While serving on the council, he was a proponent of building a state school in Rowland Flat for local children.[1] He became a naturalized Australian citizen in 1872.[1]
Later he grew citrus fruits in the Barossa Valley.[1]
He married Eleonora (Nitzschke) Gramp.[1] They had three sons and three daughters.[1] He was Lutheran.[1]
He died on 9 August 1903 at his estate in the Barossa Valley.[1] His son Gustav Gramp took over the vineyard, until it was inherited by his grandson, Hugo Gramp in 1920 until his death in 1938.[2] It stayed in the Gramp family until the 1970s, when it was purchased by Reckitt and Colman, and eventually by Pernod Ricard.[2]
