Skatey...The life of Les Skate
Biography of Les Skate edited and prepared for publication by volunteer biographer Lorraine Blythe on behalf of Eastern Palliative Care October 2019
Biography of Les Skate edited and prepared for publication by volunteer biographer
Lorraine Blythe on behalf of Eastern Palliative Care October 2019
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<strong><strong>Skate</strong>y</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> Life <strong>of</strong> <strong>Les</strong> <strong>Skate</strong><br />
I always reckoned he was the best wine maker<br />
in the Yarra Valley.<br />
Dr Bailey Carrodus. Described as a visionary who re-started the wine industry in the Yarra Valley and also<br />
gave <strong>Les</strong> his first chance to build a winery.<br />
He always had a plan in mind. In later years other wineries, when they got such a stock<br />
they wouldn’t stick to their prices, they wanted the cash. So, they would sell it <strong>of</strong>f at lesser<br />
prices which horrified some <strong>of</strong> the original owners. <strong>The</strong>y had built it up to about seventeen<br />
to twenty dollars a bottle, then it was being flogged <strong>of</strong>f at five dollars! Once you go down<br />
to that you can’t go back again.<br />
But Dr Carrodus was different. When he was financially stable, we built another big store<br />
shed, all done with the grey Besser blocks and then we did another one for him, which<br />
soon outgrew its use. He was still making his wine up in the first shed that I’d built. <strong>The</strong>n he<br />
decided was going to build a proper winery down the hill a bit.<br />
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