Gourmet Traveller WINE Len Evans Award 2010: Robert O’Callaghan, Rockford
A deep respect for traditional winemaking techniques and the Barossan rhythm of life have placed this contented producer at the forefront of an influential regional school.
When a group of German riesling makers visited Rockford a few years ago, they were full of admiration for the spirit of place, the stone winery buildings, the traditional machines (19th-century Bagshaw destemmer, Whitehill must pump, pre-World War 1 Kaesler engine and Robinson basket press) but refused to believe that Rockford could handle all of its crush with this primitive equipment. It does. Just before they left, one of the Germans commented: “When I saw the machinery, I thought we would see some terrible wines. What we tasted were some of the greatest reds I have seen.”
His formative influences help explain the impact that Robert O’Callaghan and Rockford has had on the Barossa and on those who have worked with him. His tough yet joyful family life, growing up in the Riverland towns and vineyards of Monash and Barooga in the 1950s and 1960s, holds clues to his sense of responsibility, belief in the binding power of partying, and the fundamental importance of community, his love of the land and history.
He worked for Seppelt, firstly at Rutherglen from 1965 to 1969 and then briefly in the Barossa. While still a teenager, he dined with his father at Colin Preece’s home in Great Western and gained an inspirational insight into the world of the winemaker. Drinking Preece’s reds, such as the 1958 Seppelt Chalambar Burgundy, provided him with the prototype of the kind of wine he wanted to make. More than a decade spent as winemaker at Bernkastel and St Hallett’s gave him time to experience Barossan life, winemaking and viticulture, and to allow the region to seep into his bones.
When the opportunity came in 1984, he had a clear vision of the kind of winery he wanted; one which used varieties that suited the region; adopted labour-intensive methods that reflected the pace and rhythm of Barossa life; and sold its wines directly to customers who would come to the cellar door and understand the spirit of the enterprise. He also had a vision of making wines that embraced tradition and emphasised generosity of flavour, restraint and rich old-vine fruit rather than ripeness and lavish oak.
Rockford is a paradox. It is quintessential Barossa and yet is unlike almost any other Barossa winery. Although he was ahead of his time, treasuring old-vines fruit when the 1985 vine pull was in full swing, the winery that he built was of an earlier era. There could scarcely have been a worse time to start a Barossa winery when the region and its wines were so deeply unfashionable. He built and maintained a close relationship with his growers, paying them more than double the going rate for their old-vine fruit in their darkest days. As Andrew Caillard MW has said: “Robert O’Callaghan’s deep sense of history and belief in traditional Barossa values began a vinous counter-reformation. He has singularly inspired a whole generation of Barossa winemakers.”
Over the years, young winemakers have gravitated to Rockford fascinated by a place that is so other-worldly, keen to understand the traditional ways and the basics of winemaking. These have become, to use O’Callaghan’s term, “the Rockford Academy”: his leadership qualities are perhaps best exemplified by the impact that they have made, and continue to make, in the Barossa. This sizeable group includes influential winemakers like Chris Ringland, Dave Powell, Stuart Blackwell, Peter Schultz, Andrew Seppelt, Philip Lehmann and 2010 Wine Australia Medalist, Tom Shobbrook.
O’Callaghan and his longest-serving winemaker, Chris Ringland, have spent many years vinifing and maturing individual parcels of fruit from the various localities in the Barossa. They and their fellow winemakers have marvelled at the differences before the parcels were blended into wines like the Rockford Basket Press Shiraz. Times have changed and single-site wines are now much sought after. The alumni of the Rockford Academy have carried this lesson with them into their current enterprises.
Everything that Rockford does with its customers, especially for the regulars who are invited to join the Stone Wall Society, fosters a sense of community. There is a special tasting area set aside for them at Krondorf Road, weekend trips on the paddle steamer Marion, and the famous Rockford lunches.
I had a conversation with O’Callaghan a year ago, during which he talked about contentment: not suggesting that he would put anything less into running Rockford but more that his endeavours in the Barossa had worked out, and given him great pleasure. We could do with more contented vignerons in Australia.
TEXT PETER FORRESTAL PHOTOGRAPHY BRETT BROGAN
This article is from the October/November issue of Gourmet Traveller WINE.