Top: Bleasdale Vineyards. Bottom left: Hauling vats at Bleasdale. Bottom right: Lloyd Stanley (Sticky) Potts the youngest of eleven and second generation of the Potts family.
Another development that helped future-proof Angove was Tom Angove’s (Richard’s grandfather) invention of the humble wine cask, which he patented in 1965. Ingenuity in a box. By the time the family acquired their McLaren Vale vineyard in 2008, it was well on the way to becoming the leading organic winery it is today, adapting to consumers’ growing desire for ‘clean’ products. Oliver’s and Kay Brothers, similarly, have adapted their wineries with sustainability in mind; using only recycled, rain or bore water and state-of-the-art irrigation systems. Bleasdale, located on a low-rainfall floodplain, was forced to adapt from day one with a system of levees and floodgates to irrigate its vineyards. Other obstacles that have forced the Fleurieu’s oldest dynasties to adapt include two world wars, The Great Depression, crippling droughts, recessions, shaky export markets, online sales and the whims of public taste and drinking habits (including the seismic shift from fortified to table wines after WWII).
One curious challenge faced by the Olivers could’ve crippled the family business had it not been for the efforts of a fiercely-determined woman. ‘Pretty much the second generation of men were alcoholics,’ Brioni chuckles. ‘So Ruth (William Oliver’s daughter-in-law) ran the place. There are diaries up at Kay Brothers saying stuff like; ‘fivetonne of Shiraz and Grenache delivered by Mrs Ruth Oliver’, which would’ve been unheard of then.’ There’s surely a little bit of Ruth in Brioni and Corrina, who’ve built the Oliver’s Taranga label (est. 1990s) and cellar door (2007) from the ground up. Interestingly, Bleasdale was run by a strong family matriarch too. When Frank Potts II died in 1916, his wife Alice ran the property and winery with her ten children for nineteen years. Dynasties also continually grapple with existential questions about whether the next generation even wants to work for the family business. Colin Kay recalls receiving letters from family members >
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