Function Report - Bass Valley Tour

25th June 2006

Twenty five travellers transported themselves to Tooradin to tipple. That is by way of introducing Tooradin as the first stop on our tour of the Bass Valley Wine Region on Sunday 25th of June 2006. Actually, not many members tippled at Tooradin, but did partake of our normal tour starter of tea, coffee, fresh bread rolls and paté, cheese or salami. Despite the coats being worn, it was a pleasant day provided you were out of the wind.

The first winery we visited was Vin Rose Winery at The Gurdies. Our hosts, Dianne and Alan Ramsay (pictured) provided six wines to taste, with cheese and biscuits to cleanse the palate.

The winery is in a magnificent setting some 400 metres from the Bass Highway, with spectacular views over Westernport Bay, plus a rose garden of 700 plus plants. At this time there were few blooms to see, but you could imagine the brilliant colours in late spring or early summer.

Alan and Dianne set up the winery some 12 years ago and have about 5 acres under vines. We tasted two white wines, Chardonnay and Riesling, a Rosé, and three red wines; a 2003 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot; a 2004 Merlot; and a 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon (not yet released), which won a Bronze Medal at the Red Hill Wine Show. The wines were very much appreciated by all.

After an hour of tasting and chatting, we moved on to Bass River Winery , where Frank Butera, son of Rosa and Pasquale(Pat), who is the Assistant Winemaker, hosted our visit.

The family owned Butera Bass River Winery, a boutique winery located in the Bass Coast region of Southern Victoria, is situated in a stunning rural location in Victoria’s southern Bass Coast region. Winemakers are father and son team Pasquale and Frank Butera.

Bass River opened to the public in 2004. Wines are principally sold from the cellar door, and are also available at local outlets and restaurants in the South Gippsland region.

The coastal sea breezes and cool climate of this distinctive area, together with superior soil qualities, combine to produce wines of a premium standard. The 6 acre vineyard yields a small, high quality crop of grapes, which are produced over a slow growing season. Even though the vineyard has only six acres under vine at present, there is plenty of room for expansion on the 110 acre property. On the other hand, with the current over supply of grapes, would it make more sense to concentrate on a small, premium quality production? This is the question that a lot of small vineyards have to answer.

Bass River Winery commenced planting in 1999 and in 2002 produced their first vintage of Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. In 2004 limited quantities of Merlot, and Cherry Wine were also produced. The Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir are matured in quality French oak barriques. Bass River Winery also produce a sweet Riesling that is a lovely dessert wine.

Taylor's Waterfront Restaurant

Taylor's Waterfront Restaurant is situated on the oceanfront overlooking Bass Strait. The Restaurant specialises in fresh local lobster and seafood platters. It is fully licensed with a popular range of Australian wine and beer. Taylor’s generously allowed the Purple Hen Winery to provide a tasting of their wines to accompany our luncheon.

For our luncheon, Taylor’s provided a choice of Vegetable soup, or Caesar Salad to commence, followed by either Smoked Salmon dusted with peppercorns, or chicken stuffed with a rice dish. Sweets were a choice of Tira Misu or a Sorbet. All the dishes were beautifully presented, and complemented the wines. The Guild provided a “sticky” wine to accompany the sweet.

The winemaker for Purple Hen Winery, Marcus Satchell, (pic at right) introduced the wines – he chose an unwooded chardonnay, and a barrel fermented chardonnay, and also, a rosé and a pinot noir. Marcus chose the lighter style wines specifically to enhance the food. Purple Hen Winery also produce Shiraz, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines were very well priced.
After lunch we travelled back to The Gurdies Winery, which we had visited on our previous tour here some seven or so years ago.

The Gurdies (notes from their web site)
“The region around The Gurdies is very sandy. The property sits on top of the Heath Hill fault line which formed The Gurdies hills eons ago. The resulting geology is all sand and gravel. This gives very good drainage for the vines. When the vine is dormant, it's a 'dead stick' in the ground. If the vine's roots are sitting in a poorly drained area they will rot and the vine 'drowns'. When spring comes and the plant should be growing, it can't since it's got no roots left.

The vine roots just keep on going downward since there's no clay barrier to stop them. Our older vines have their roots down 5 or 6 metres. This allows the vines to survive a very dry season with very little (if any) irrigation since they're getting water from a long way down. In turn, we get highly concentrated fruit flavours and not big waterlogged berries.

The end result is:
 We get lots of sunlight onto each leaf (No shading gives higher grape sugar contents = better wines & no wimpy 11% alc. Cabernets)
 More nutrients to each grape give riper berries (No green, leafy characteristics in the wines)
 Better spray penetration into the vine canopy (Less chemicals used so cleaner wines)
 Less irrigation (More concentrated flavours in the berries gives better flavours in the wines)
 Better fruit flavours in the wines (More enjoyment for you)

A good wine starts in the vineyard and is made into a great wine in the winery. If you start with ordinary grapes, you can never produce a great wine, no matter how hard you try.”

After another tasting of some five wines from The Gurdies range we had tea, coffee and afternoon tea in the winery and then headed back to Melbourne.

And so another most enjoyable tour was conducted by the Guild. Our thanks go to the committee members who planned the tour – the timing was well paced and very relaxing. When you consider that we tasted approximately 21 or 22 wines, had morning tea, a three course lunch and afternoon tea for either $70 or $80 a person, one wonders what we as a committee can do to engender more support.
Your correspondent acknowledges the assistance from the web sites of Bass River Winery, Taylor’s Waterfront Restaurant and The Gurdies Winery in the preparation of this report.