Interview with Roger Blake [transcript] Interviewer: Rob Linn

Roger Blake was born at Waikerie in 1927. His father had a 5 acre fruit block and had shares in the Waikerie Coop. His parents names were William and Marion. Roger went to Roseworthy and talks about the people there and the work he did. He moved to the research station at Griffith in 1948 and stayed for 6 months; then worked at Tahbilk for 18 months; worked with McWilliams in Yenda in the champagne area; went back to South Australia to work at Seaview for Ben Chaffey; and worked at Kaiser Stuhl in Nuriootpa. Roger talks about the wine making processes. He moved to Wynns in 1961. He picked up Wolf Blass in Sydney when he arrived from Germany and he talks about Wolf Blass and how he became established in the industry. Wynns set up a winery in Yenda. Wynns was taken over by Tooheys who then sold it to the Adelaide Steamship Company. He talks about his time at Wynns and the changes to the types of wine they made. He went to the USA to look at new equipment and talks about changes in technology, various takeovers and their impact on the industry and Colin Gramp and Guenter Prass

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