I was born into a family of grape growers and grew up in vineyards and wineries, where I inherited a great respect for the pioneer Australian wine trade. All that I've experienced is reflected in the Rockford winemaking principles. Quality winemaking is a skilled craft that consumes a very large part of one's life, so it must give you joy. That joy is extended if the maker can sell the wine directly to those who drink it for their pleasure. My grandparents on both sides and also my parents were grape growers, so my childhood was spent in their vineyards. My parents moved to North Eastern Victoria where my father managed a vineyard for Australia's then largest family winemakers, Seppelts. In 1965 I followed a natural path and started as a trainee winemaker at Seppelt's Rutherglen winery. It was a wonderful apprenticeship in the old, ordered, slow and gentle Australian wine trade. The wines I drank, the winemakers from previous generations with whom I associated and everything I absorbed in that period had a major influence on the way Rockford is today. Although I've spent all my life in vineyards and wineries, the pleasure I derive from walking through rows of vines or casks filled with wine has not diminished. In 1971 I purchased an 1850's stone settler's cottage and outbuildings on five acres of land in the village of Krondorf, which sits in the shadow of the Barossa Ranges, in the heart of the Barossa Valley. The courtyard shaped winery which grew from this was built in the same style and from the same materials as the original buildings. The vintage shed is equipped with plant from the pioneer era - I collected these valuable pieces when they were discarded by other Australian wineries as they modernised. This allows Rockford to carry on the traditional Australian winemaking techniques, but more importantly the winery is the same scale, age and pace as our growers' vineyards. To me the winery is not just a building but a large piece of sculpture with Barossa wine running through its veins, hopefully when you walk into the courtyard you'll instantly feel a sense of all that it represents. Wine is crafted, not created. The skill is to capture and enhance the fleeting flavours that the grapes extract from the earth and draw from their variety, then bottle this as a living record of the vintage they represent. Rockford wines are made from established Barossa varieties which form an important part of our winemaking heritage, in a style that best reflects the vineyards, the winemaker's attitude and the climate in which we live.  I have always lived in and feel most comfortable with the warm Mediterranean climate of the Barossa where grapes ripen properly. My preference is to make the wine by hand with traditional methods, attitudes and equipment to produce elegant but rich, earthy, soft, generous wines that will age - the kind that I drank in my youth. The world is changing so rapidly it is difficult to imagine what the future will look like. My challenge is to train and mentor the next generation in the principles and techniques of traditional winemaking. This will ensure that the very particular style of wine that we make and all it represents will be valued and enjoyed for many years to come.

Founder of Rockford Wines