Grower/Winemaker
Rockford Wines
Barossa Valley, South Australia

Robert O’Callaghan, the founder of Rockford Wines, is a hard act to follow. His single-minded determination to make wine his way, slowly and traditionally, set his wines apart among a generation of overextracted Barossa wines. But Ben Radford had spent 12 years winemaking in Europe and South Africa, so coming to Rockford was challenging but not overwhelming. After eight years with Ben as winemaker, Robert realized he had found his man, and in 2013 asked him to be managing director as well. Ben says, “It is a little complicated balancing the right- and left-brain components of the job, but it is also invigorating.” As testimony to his success, this year Ben was acknowledged in his own right by the Barons of Barossa, who named him their Winemaker of the Year.

The core philosophy at Rockford has always been to preserve the wine heritage of the Barossa Valley. At a time when growers were encouraged to pull up their vines in favor of more profitable crops, Robert paid them significantly more than the going rate to ensure that the old vineyards would remain intact (phylloxera never made it to South Australia, so many of the vines in the Barossa Valley are as old as 160 years!). Since then Rockford and its growers have developed a mutual respect, ensuring ongoing relationships and providing the winemaker the opportunity to know, and to evolve with, many varieties, soil types, altitudes, weather conditions and vine ages. 

My favorite question to ask winemakers is “What do you see when you taste a grape?” While many have no idea what to make of this question, when I asked Ben, he thought a moment and responded, “The grapes for the Basket Press come from 30 different vineyards. Each grape I taste fills a particular part of a mosaic of flavors, from raspberries and brown lime to white pepper and North African spices.” Ben creates a story of the vintage in his mind, like an intricate sand mandala, a story of life. It has no predetermined outline and he does not take notes! He holds it in his head, and does the same for every other wine he makes. So it is no surprise that for Ben, the best day of the year is blending day, when he and Robert get together to make the decisions that become the final wines. This day is the confirmation of the mysterious mosaic that intuitively informed Ben’s decisions about the right moment to pick in each vineyard.

Originally wanting to be a park ranger, Ben Radford still works with nature, but he has found his calling as a winemaker who often asks himself “I get paid for this?” As for vintage 2015, Ben says, “It was a wet Winter and dry Spring and then came sudden downpours, but both the reds and whites are impressive despite coming in about three weeks earlier than usual. The wines will define 2015 as a great vintage.”

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