Exhibitors taste wines at the 2018 Gippsland Wine Awards. All photos by George Pappas
By Dick Wettenhall
LAST month’s annual Gippsland Wine Awards held at Lardner Park served as a reminder of the fine quality of Gippsland wines. Once again, Bass Coast wineries excelled, winning seven out of ten of the best-in-class awards (Purple Hen, Dirty Three, Bass River and The Gurdies Wineries), as well as the major awards for the most successful exhibitor and best red wine (Dirty Three and its 2017 Pinot Noir), and best white wine and best wine of show (The Gurdies Winery’s Orchid Label Chardonnay).
LAST month’s annual Gippsland Wine Awards held at Lardner Park served as a reminder of the fine quality of Gippsland wines. Once again, Bass Coast wineries excelled, winning seven out of ten of the best-in-class awards (Purple Hen, Dirty Three, Bass River and The Gurdies Wineries), as well as the major awards for the most successful exhibitor and best red wine (Dirty Three and its 2017 Pinot Noir), and best white wine and best wine of show (The Gurdies Winery’s Orchid Label Chardonnay).
Bass Coast's success comes at a time when the regional wine industry’s representative body, Wine Gippsland, rebrands Gippsland as one of Victoria’s quality cool climate wine regions. Integral to the strategy has been raising the prestige of the wine awards by appointing top-tier wine judges, including this year’s chair of judges, PJ Charteris, who is also chairman of judges for the Sydney Royal Wine Show.
Bass Coast's climate and terroir have always favoured pinot noir, chardonnay and riesling. Climate change is increasingly enabling other varieties with best-in-class awards consistently going to shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc and most recently tempranillo from Bass Coast vineyards.
Bass Coast's climate and terroir have always favoured pinot noir, chardonnay and riesling. Climate change is increasingly enabling other varieties with best-in-class awards consistently going to shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc and most recently tempranillo from Bass Coast vineyards.
Dick Wettenhall (The Gurdies Winery), left, and Marcus Satchell (Dirty Three) were multiple winners at the Gippsland Wine Awards.
The Wine Awards have become an important generator of tourism and business. This is facilitated by strategic alliances between Wine Gippsland, regional shires and Destination Gippsland, as well as by increased participation of local restaurants and other food and wine retailers at the Wine Awards. The flow-on effect to other farm gate businesses, particularly cheese and olive producers such as Prom Country and Bassine Speciality Cheese, has led to reciprocal arrangements enabling visitors to explore matching wine, cheese and other local food combinations.
Winery cellar doors are integral to wine tourism, ranging from the pristine wine tasting and food serving facilities of Purple Hen, Dirty Three and Harman Wines to the relatively “industrial” environment of The Gurdies Winery, where visitors have to negotiate wine making equipment to get to the tasting area (at least visitors are left in no doubt where the wine is made!).
Important to the cellar door experience are the personalities operating the cellar doors, which typically include wine makers, engaging support staff and the ever present winery dogs.
Who could not purchase wine from Dirty Three's disarmingly friendly Marcus and Lisa Satchel and their welcoming staff and eccentric winery dogs, Monty and Gina?
Purple Hen's Rick Lacey, wine guru and father of the Philip Island wine industry and recently retired President of Wine Gippsland, can make any wine sound interesting. If Rick fails to capture your attention, he enlists the services of his beloved winery dog Chip, otherwise known as the apprentice to his predecessor the legendary Taj. The protocol seems to be that visitors must pat Chip or risk not being served!
Bass River's Butera family operates the cellar door of one of the region's oldest and most successful wineries which, in recent years, has won numerous major trophies for their pinot noir, chardonnay and iced riesling.
The Harman family operates a gem of a cellar door at Harman Wines, Wattlebank, offering wood fired pizzas and platters of local food to match their extensive range of wines. recent Awards for Bass Coast 2018 Business of The Year and Business Excellence are testament to their success.
Much of the credit for the recent success of region is attributable to local Wonthaggi boy Marcus Satchell, whose considerable expertise in wine making and viticulture is second to none. Marcus has also had a major part in the rebranding of Gippsland as a premium wine region in his role as vice president of Wine Gippsland.
Winery cellar doors are integral to wine tourism, ranging from the pristine wine tasting and food serving facilities of Purple Hen, Dirty Three and Harman Wines to the relatively “industrial” environment of The Gurdies Winery, where visitors have to negotiate wine making equipment to get to the tasting area (at least visitors are left in no doubt where the wine is made!).
Important to the cellar door experience are the personalities operating the cellar doors, which typically include wine makers, engaging support staff and the ever present winery dogs.
Who could not purchase wine from Dirty Three's disarmingly friendly Marcus and Lisa Satchel and their welcoming staff and eccentric winery dogs, Monty and Gina?
Purple Hen's Rick Lacey, wine guru and father of the Philip Island wine industry and recently retired President of Wine Gippsland, can make any wine sound interesting. If Rick fails to capture your attention, he enlists the services of his beloved winery dog Chip, otherwise known as the apprentice to his predecessor the legendary Taj. The protocol seems to be that visitors must pat Chip or risk not being served!
Bass River's Butera family operates the cellar door of one of the region's oldest and most successful wineries which, in recent years, has won numerous major trophies for their pinot noir, chardonnay and iced riesling.
The Harman family operates a gem of a cellar door at Harman Wines, Wattlebank, offering wood fired pizzas and platters of local food to match their extensive range of wines. recent Awards for Bass Coast 2018 Business of The Year and Business Excellence are testament to their success.
Much of the credit for the recent success of region is attributable to local Wonthaggi boy Marcus Satchell, whose considerable expertise in wine making and viticulture is second to none. Marcus has also had a major part in the rebranding of Gippsland as a premium wine region in his role as vice president of Wine Gippsland.
The mobile wine processing bottling plant operating at the Dirty Three Winery
Most of the local wineries have benefited from Marcus' valuable advice, assistance and contract wine making skills. He also assists other wineries by providing access to the mobile wine processing bottling truck which comes to The Dirty Three Winery several times a year. The high throughput (over 12,000 bottles processed in a single day) and quality control are difficult to achieve with relatively manual in-house bottling facilities.
Another strength is the considerable camaraderie within the local industry, which fosters the sharing of knowledge, expertise, equipment and other resources. Major beneficiaries are the newcomers. As a former research scientist with no prior experience in the industry, I’m indebted to those who took on the challenge of transforming a nerdy laboratory scientist into a “farmer”, wine maker and salesman. One of their greatest challenges was to convince me of the importance of wine labels in marketing. After several years of not so gentle persuasion, I was finally convinced to commission my new label design, The Orchid Label, successfully introduced at this year's Wine Awards.
There have been concerns that decreased profitability and altered family priorities could lead to a contraction of the local industry. A number of wineries have closed, the most recent being the Phillip Island and Bass Valley wineries, the latter founded by one of the region's earliest wine makers, Roger Cuttler, who sadly passed way last year.
However, there are promising signs for the future. Gippsland Wine Company's Mark Heath has leased the Bass valley vineyard and San Remo identities Nick and Misha recently purchased the Phillip Island Winery with a view to a major redevelopment of the cellar door and vineyard.
Bass Coast's emerging reputation as one of Victoria's premium cool climate wine regions creates opportunities for further economic development of our region as a tourist and lifestyle destination on a scale comparable with that of the Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. Wine Gippsland and local wine producers, in partnership with the Bass Coast shire, are passionate about pursuing these opportunities.
Dick Wettenhall owns and operates The Gurdies Winery.
Another strength is the considerable camaraderie within the local industry, which fosters the sharing of knowledge, expertise, equipment and other resources. Major beneficiaries are the newcomers. As a former research scientist with no prior experience in the industry, I’m indebted to those who took on the challenge of transforming a nerdy laboratory scientist into a “farmer”, wine maker and salesman. One of their greatest challenges was to convince me of the importance of wine labels in marketing. After several years of not so gentle persuasion, I was finally convinced to commission my new label design, The Orchid Label, successfully introduced at this year's Wine Awards.
There have been concerns that decreased profitability and altered family priorities could lead to a contraction of the local industry. A number of wineries have closed, the most recent being the Phillip Island and Bass Valley wineries, the latter founded by one of the region's earliest wine makers, Roger Cuttler, who sadly passed way last year.
However, there are promising signs for the future. Gippsland Wine Company's Mark Heath has leased the Bass valley vineyard and San Remo identities Nick and Misha recently purchased the Phillip Island Winery with a view to a major redevelopment of the cellar door and vineyard.
Bass Coast's emerging reputation as one of Victoria's premium cool climate wine regions creates opportunities for further economic development of our region as a tourist and lifestyle destination on a scale comparable with that of the Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. Wine Gippsland and local wine producers, in partnership with the Bass Coast shire, are passionate about pursuing these opportunities.
Dick Wettenhall owns and operates The Gurdies Winery.