Interview with William David Hardy [transcript] Interviewer: Rob Linn

Bill Hardy was born on 23 November 1950 at Brighton, South Australia. He was the second son of Thomas Hardy and Barbara Hardy. He went to school at Brighton Primary, St Peter's College and then Adelaide University. His brothers are Tom, Philip and Geoff Hardy. Geoff was an excellent viticulturalist. He talks about his grandmother, the 1938 Kyeema disaster, the two branches of the Hardy family, development of their river properties in the 1920s including Cyrilton. After university he worked with Bob Hagley at McLaren Vale and then went to Bordeaux to study. Table wine started to take off in the late 1960s and new technology came in at the same time. The Hardy reisling took off in the late 1960s with Siegersdorf. They had a very successful history in reds with winemaker Roger Warren. In 1972 Bill did the French winemaking course at the University of Bordeaux - the first Australian to do so. He worked for six months at Hardy Cognacs. He returned to Australia and started working at Hardys in 1974 at Tintara in McLaren Vale. It was a time of fast growth for the wine industry. The Bushing Festival was started by his Uncle David Hardy. New wines were released each year and Elizabeth Feast held the Festival at the Tatachilla cellars. He visited Western Australia in 1976 and the family bought Houghtons. He became the winemaker and stayed there six years. It was the beginning of the WA wine industry. He took over from Charlie Kelly. In WA he learnt about the passion of pioneers. He returned to SA in 1980 when his father and grandmother died. Wayne Jackson took over as Managing Diretor. He talks about Western Australia's great southern rieslings, being winemaker at Cyrilton until it was sold in 1988, buying Reynella in 1982 and modernising the cellar and building a new winery. For most of the 1980s he made fortified wine and brandy. The company had 17 stills which they dismantled and reduced to three, resulting in the country's best brandy. He bought a vineyard in France in the late 1980s and he took over its management from 1991 to 1994. He talks about the new venture and the changes they made. Whilst there the company was publicly listed in South Australia and he was devastated by the merger. He became spokesman, promoter, and adviser for the company both domestically and internationally

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