Date: 29th May 2025
Tickets: $185


A Message from Graeme Jones

Dear Corks ‘n’ Forkers

With the Easter/ANZAC Day break now behind us, I’d like to give you some preliminary details about our Rockford Wines Dinner scheduled for Thursday 29 May. But first, some background on Rockford.

If you go to a Dan Murphys wine store, you probably won’t find a bottle of Rockford wine anywhere. In the section where the fine wines are displayed, some under lock and key, there’ll be lots of overpriced Penfolds, a wonderful array of excellent Australian and overseas red and white wines, but not a single bottle of Rockford. Why is this you might ask, given that Rockford’s flagship – the Basket Press Shiraz, is fairly regarded as one of Australia’s finest red wines?

Well, the reason goes back to the early 1980’s, when Robert O’Callaghan established Rockford. Robert came from a family rooted in the wine trade, and his vision was to produce the best traditional Barossan wine he could from established Barossa grape varieties using traditional ‘hands on’ methods such as basket pressing and open fermentation. His plan was a simple one – source the best fruit from long-established growers, deal fairly with them year in year out, make the best wine he could, and then sell his wine at a fair price to people who came to his cellar door or, having done so, joined his mailing list.

Robert figured, and the ensuing years have proven him right, that if you’re loyal to your growers and customers, treat them fairly, and in so doing make the best wine you can, then all will be well.

Although Rockford has grown and flourished over the years, that basic model remains intact. You can’t buy their wine on-line - only by completing an order form, or better still by paying them a visit. Some of the wines, including the Sparkling Black Shiraz and the Basket Press Shiraz, can only be purchased at cellar door unless you’re a Stonewaller – a Rockford term for a long-established customer for which there’s a waiting list.

The reason the Club is one of the few places in Sydney able to offer Rockford to its members and their guests goes back to 2013, when myself and a few like-minded members established the Club’s food and wine group now known as Corks ‘n’ Forks. I’d been enjoying Rockford wines for many years, and was thus able to prevail upon them to give the Club an annual allocation of their wines for our level 7 restaurant and to enable us to hold the occasional Rockford Dinner, which we did in 2013, 2014 and 2019. This year’s Rockford Dinner on 29 May will be our fourth, and I suggest you mark the date in your diaries.

We’re still putting together the menu, the list of wines to match, and the price per head, and I’ll write again as soon as they’re available. However I can report there’ll likely be 4 courses and 8 wines. The wines will certainly include Rockford’s famous Basket Press Shiraz; a wine that typically comes from 60 to 140-year-old vineyards that showcase the Barossa’s diverse terroir and viticultural assests. The Basket Press Shiraz is made from hand-picked grapes using a 19th-century crusher, open fermentation, and basket pressing, followed by aging in French and American oak. It’s a wine with traditional Barossan rich flavors and depth, with each sip revealing a rich lineage of tradition and craftsmanship.

This year’s Rockford Dinner, like its predecessors, is likely to attract significant interest from members and their guests. So if you’re interested in coming, might I suggest you contact the Club’s Events Manager Amelia Armistead on 8273 2322 or at [email protected], or Millie Flynn – the Club’s newly-appointed Events Coordinator at [email protected], to make a preliminary booking.

I’ll write again with further details soon.

Regards

Graeme Jones