Interview with Ken Collins [transcript] Interviewer: Rob Linn

Collins, Ken (1943- Ken Collins was born in Adelaide but the family moved to Langhorne Creek in 1948. When his own trucking business failed in 1971, Ken joined the Bleasdale winery as a general handyman. There, he demolished old buildings and installed new ones, pruned vines, maintained vehicles and packed bottles. Ken describes in detail the bottling line before the introduction of vacuum fillers. Bleasdale bottled cleanskins for Mildara. In Ken's view, upgrading rather than major changes have characterised the Potts Bleasdale winery. The demand for sparkling and white wine has decreased with more red wine being produced. Langhorne Creek vineyards are watered by annual, natural floods which encircle the town. The grape growers use floodgates to water each vineyard. Ken gleefully recalled the time when half the tractors in the district were bogged in the vineyard and the big flood of 1992. Bleasdale still has weekly deliveries in Adelaide to private customers. Ken closed with the observation that Bleasdale is now one of the smallest wineries in the area with the arrival of Penfolds, Hardy and Orlando

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