In the late 19th century, Assmanshausen's award-winning wines were known throughout southern Queensland, and the winery was a popular attraction for visitors to the Warwick district.

[1] Jacob and Elisabetha Kircher were early settlers on the southern Darling Downs, arriving at Moreton Bay in March 1855.

About 1857 the Kirchers left Canning Downs, Jacob working as a bushman on Rosenthal station and at various other activities, before taking up farming in the early 1860s.

At this period the Assmanshausen winery comprised a dressed stone building of 3 flats: an underground cellar; a ground-level workroom; and a steeply-pitched shingled roof containing an attic space.

Kircher had devised his own system of wine production: the press was located in the ground floor workroom; from here the must (unfermented grape juice) was suction-pumped through pipes up to the attic, where it was fermented in 500 and 300 imperial gallons (1,400 L; 360 US gal) vats before being fed through more pipes to the underground cellar, where it matured in wooden butts.

Warwick vignerons had reached a stage whereby they could hold much of their produce until it had mellowed and ripened with age, and the reputation of Assmanshausen wines in particular was growing.

[1] By March 1901, the Assmanshausen vineyard still comprised just 10 acres (4.0 ha), but Kircher was devoting most of his time to wine production as distinct from general farming.

Both the winery and the vineyard were managed by Jacob Christian Barth, son of the Kirchers' adopted daughter, Mary Rickert of Warwick.

Henri Macquarie Serisier of New South Wales was associated with Assmanshausen from c. 1915, and in 1920 purchased the vineyard and winery from Michael Kircher for £2,200.

He changed the famous Assmanshausen name to Toolburra Vineyards, and undertook extensive new plantings, many of which were table grapes.

By 1922 he had about 65 acres (26 ha) under grapes, and was expecting to produce about 20,000 imperial gallons (91,000 L; 24,000 US gal) of wine that season - principally ports, muscat, madeira, sweet sherry, claret and hock.

[1] HM Serisier remained at Toolburra Vineyards until a few years before his death in 1942, but in 1932 transferred the property to his son, Kelvin Eugene.

[1] The former Assmanshausen Winery and Residence are situated on a low ridge just north of the intersection of Sandy Creek and Serisier Roads about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) northwest of Warwick.

It is a rectangular structure of dressed local sandstone, aligned lengthwise on an east–west axis, comprising a ground-level workroom and a deep cellar.

At the western end is a small sandstone extension with a separate skillion roof and a large timber door, set one course above ground level.

There is an opening in the workroom floor midway along the southern side, sufficiently large to enable barrels or butts to be lowered into the cellar below.

However, considerable potential exists to search for archaeological evidence of the verandahs which formerly surrounded the stone structure, and of the late 19th century timber extension to the eastern end of the winery.

[1] The house is situated close to Serisier Rd, but facing south toward Sandy Creek Road, in grounds containing mature trees and shrubs [including conifers and pepperinas (Schinus molle)], and early terracing.

Steps lead from the front [south] verandah to a garden terrace with flagstone path and early stone-edged flower beds.

[1] The grounds at the rear of the house contain mature trees and shrubs and several timber structures associated with the homestead, including a meat-house and wash-house.

The finely-finished house (extant by 1881) illustrates the success of the winery, and the desire of its immigrant owners to establish themselves in their adopted country.

The place also has the potential to reveal, through archaeological investigation, further information about the nature of the structure, and to contribute to our understanding of wineries and wine-making in Queensland.

It retains much early fabric (including the dressed sandstone and heavy adzed beams and posts), and design elements (including the underground sandstone cellar, air shafts and small shuttered windows in the upper level), which contribute to our understanding of the construction and functioning of a 19th-century Queensland winery.

Despite the loss of the kitchen and bedroom wings at the rear, the residence core remains important in illustrating the principal characteristics of a well-detailed farmhouse, in which the quality of finish is well above the usual.

The house, with its early form, wide verandahs, red roof and white chimneys, set amid a garden of mature trees and shrubs, is a local landmark.

The winery has an aesthetic appeal engendered by the rusticity of the fabric, the atmospheric underground cellar, and the pleasant rural setting.