Yalumba was founded by a British brewer named Samuel Smith; the winery is located near the town of Angasto, in the Barossa Valley region in southern Australia.

In August 1847 Samuel emigrated with his family from Wareham Dorset; they arrived in December with the China ship and spent the first year in a small house he built on the banks of the Torrens river; they later moved to North Angaston, where Smith bought a 30-acre block of land.

He planted his first vineyards with his son Sidney in 1849, and called his property Yalumba "all the land around", starting Australia's oldest family-run winery.