Interview with Ann Scutchings [sound recording] Interviewer: Rob Linn, Part 1 of 3
Ann's parents are June Potts and Geoff Scutchings. She was born on 1 February 1945 at Bleasdale near Langhorne Creek. She went to Langhorne Creek Primary School, Woodland CEGGS in Adelaide, Adelaide High School and then university. She is the fifth generation of the family at Langhorne Creek. She gives a history of the family beginning with Frank Potts who arrived in South Australia on the 'Buffalo' in 1836. The first Governor was on the same ship. The family has been at Langhorne Creek since 1850; vineyards were first planted in the 1860s and planted on the flood plain. Until the 1960s all the wineries were fortified. Wine was sent in bulk by rail to outlets who did their own bottling. Her father taught her about wine. Her mother did office work for her father at the winery. Ann's grandparents on her father's side owned the Langhorne Creek Hotel. When her parents married they worked at the winery and bought their own vineyards. They started work at Bleasdale in 1977 and did wine testing. In 1961 Bleasdale made its first varietal red Malbec; then Cabernet and Shiraz. In the late 1960s they started making white wines with fortified Verdelho; Wolf Blass was used as a consultant. The first sparkling wine was Bremer Gold which was made in a beer keg. She talks about community life in Langhorne Creek and the people of the area. Talks about changes since 1977 - fermentation process, refrigeration, hand bottling and environmental changes. Flooding at the Bremer, use of bore water and installation of a private pipeline. Biggest change was from fortified wine to table wine as people became more sophisticated about wine drinking. Bleasdale started wine exporting through Emu Wine Company mainly to England. Started exporting table wines to the USA in the early 1980s and are now well known overseas. They still continue to operate as a family business with a privately owned company, now the fifth generation
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