Interview with Stan Aliprandi [sound recording] Interviewer: Rob Linn, Part 1 of 1

Stan Aliprandi was born in Sydney in 1936. His parents were Italian immigrants who made their own wine and he grew up within a red wine culture. Stan trained as a pharmacist. He went to Griffith and for about fourteen years ran his own chemist shop. Then with Aldo Piloni?, Stan established the San Bernardino winery at Griffith in 1973. To learn about winemaking, Stan enrolled at the initial oenology course at Wagga Wagga, now Charles Sturt University. Tony Jordan and Brian Croser established the course. San Bernardino began with the big advantage of selling house brands for Grace Brothers who paid within seven days, giving the winery a great cash flow, not a common practice in the wine industry. Among San Bernadino's innovations were Cream, an alternative to Bailey's Irish Cream, and a de-alcoholised wine which was very attractive to the Mormons. The company took advantage of new developments in both technology and marketing. It was exporting to United States and Canada as well as Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. After thirteen successful years, San Bernadino had financial problems with the banks and the premises were sold to de Bortoli. After some years back in Sydney, Stan established Kirkham Estate Wines at Camden in the Nepean/Hawkesbury Valley outside Sydney. He has visions of establishing a co-operative in the area, the Macarthur Wine Centre, and being in the forefront of new technological developments in all aspects of winemaking. For South Australians unfamiliar with new developments in New South Wales, this is an interesting interview

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