TREVOR MARCH
Like fellow Roseworthy Agricultural College Graduates, Trev’s career had to have a link with the land somewhere. He started out with stock health, then moved into Agriculture teaching in secondary schools and later the On Farm Traineeship Scheme in the TAFE sector. He side stepped for a while into management and set up the Wine Industry Training for TAFE SA under the same Traineeship model he had seen work successfully for the farming sector. An opportunity arose to undertake a Post Graduate Diploma in Viticulture through the Adelaide University and therein followed a passion for viticulture and a move to self-employment.
The move from Balaklava in the Mid North in 1986 with his wife Faye and two children Sally & James, to the property ‘Heathvale’ nestled back in from the main road and located just about mid-point between Keyneton and Eden Valley, gave him the land he craved. He topped the Adelaide market for fine merino wool one year before the wool market plummeted and turned his head from sheep to more intensive land use.
He then decided to resume the heritage of wine grape growing and wine making as started in 1865 by John Heath, son of William and Fanny Heath who had emigrated from Nottingham, UK. They settled ‘Heathvale’ in 1859 and commenced planting vines.
Wine grape growing and winemaking on the same property create the ultimate challenge and opportunity to create something special from this ‘terroir’. Ben Radford, David Norman, Phil Lehmann, Chris Taylor and now Tony Carapetis have been wonderful mentors in the winemaking. The vineyard experimentation, looking after our soil and commitment to sound sustainable practices have seen many visitors to Heathvale to view and discuss what is unique to us.
Trevor was made a Baron of the Barossa by his peers in 2017.