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Unfinished card game leads to Roseworthy Wine Reunion…
Plonkies Army awarded on the night
Held during the Wine Industry Technical Conference in Adelaide on Monday 30 July 2007. The reunion dinner was held at the Wine Centre, and proceeds for the dinner went to the charity Canteen.
Interest in the event was high, with attendees from graduates now living in SA, WA, Vic, Qld, NSW, Tas, New Zealand, Singapore, California, Japan, Argentina, France & even one graduate, David Baverstock, making a special trip from his Portugal home for the event.
A popular feature of the Roseworthy College three-year wine course in the 1980s was the third year wine tour. Typically this would be a ten-day or so bus trip around some of Australia’s wine regions, visiting vineyards and wineries. Wonderful hospitality was shown to the students and accompanying staff by the winery hosts, many of whom were Roseworthy graduates.The tour of 1981 was the last for Dr Richard Smart, Viticulture lecturer, before moving to New Zealand. He had many fond memories of partnering student Tony Royal (Portavin SA) in card games of 500 against Steve Webber (now at De Bortoli Wines) and Gordon Gebbie (now at Yering Estate) in the bus aisle. When Smart and Royal were reminiscing about Roseworthy days at an industry meeting last year, they decided to hold the first-ever Roseworthy wine reunion.
Roseworthy College, near the Barossa Valley in South Australia has been teaching wine and viticulture since 1938. The first graduates received a two year Roseworthy Diploma in Oenology, which was maintained up until 1976 when a three year Bachelor of Applied Science in Oenology course was introduced. In those days all instruction was given at Roseworthy College, and many students lived on campus, making it a close-knit community. The wine students were known as “plonkies” by all other students. The wine course was transferred to Adelaide University in 1991 when the University took over the College.
Graduates from Roseworthy College have made enormous contributions to the Australian wine industry, making it as internationally competitive and respected as it is today. Similarly, they have helped the New Zealand wine industry grow and prosper, and many other wine-producing regions around the world have also benefited from the Roseworthy influence.
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Old Roseworthy Hall
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