Interview with Dr Tom Cullity [transcript] Interviewer: Rob Linn

Tom Cullity was born on 10 September 1925 at Woodville. He qualified as a doctor in 1947 at Adelaide University. He went to the first Barossa Vintage Festival; was a physician at the Perth Hospital for 40 years; became interested in wine in the early 1950s; in 1961 he went to Germany and stayed with Karl Resse at Hattenheim to learn about wine, then to Bordeaux and visited Mouton. Back in Western Australia he visited Jack Mann at Houghtons to learn more about wine; met John Fornachon at the Wine Institute in Adelaide; he planted 20 acres with cuttings from the Swan Valley Research Station; Bill Jamieson was the government viticulturalist and he advised him on what to do; the farmers in Margaret River were very poor and he became friends with some who helped him; most thought he would fail; he survived with the help of the Rossi family; he first planted 8 acres of Riesling and Cabernet in 1967; first vintage was in 1970 and was not very good; he used open fermenters; the 1972 Riesling was very good; they were making 30,000 bottles and it was easy to sell; they had problems with silver eyes, parrots and crows; the property recently sold to Holmes a Court; he learnt by experinece and hard work; he had a manager to run the property; sold the business in 1985; he thinks that Great Southern is a better wine area than Margaret River but it has not taken off as well; tells the story of the naming of Vasse

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