Bass Phillip is an

Australian wine The Australian wine industry is one of the world's largest exporters of wine, with approximately 800 million out of the 1.2 to 1.3 billion litres produced annually exported to overseas markets. The wine industry is a significant contributor ...

ry based in

Leongatha Leongatha is a town in the foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges, South Gippsland Shire, Victoria, Australia, located south-east of Melbourne. At the , Leongatha had a population of 5,869. Canadian dairy company Saputo which trades in Australia ...

, within the Gippsland region of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

History

Bass Phillip was established in 1979 by Phillip Jones, although it did not sell its first bottle of wine until 12 years later. The winery was named after the explorers

George Bass George Bass (; 30 January 1771 – after 5 February 1803) was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia. Early years Bass was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George ...

and

Arthur Phillip Admiral Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first governor of the Colony of New South Wales. Phillip was educated at Greenwich Hospital School from June 1751 unti ...

. Initially Phillip Jones planted just under 3 hectares of

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

, with the intention of making a wine in the style of his favourite Bordeaux producer, Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou. In the mid 1980s, after developing an interest in the

Burgundy wine Burgundy wine ( or ') is made in the Burgundy region of eastern France, in the valleys and slopes west of the Saône, a tributary of the Rhône. The most famous wines produced here, and those commonly referred to as "Burgundies," are dry red wi ...

s of

Henri Jayer Henri Jayer (1922 – 20 September 2006) was a French vintner who is credited with introducing important innovations to Burgundian winemaking. He was particularly known for the quality of his Pinot noir.M. Frank "Burgundy Loses Master Winemake ...

, Jones replanted the vineyard with

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

and

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

. In 2001, Domaine Phillip Jones was formed in partnership with Paul Staindl to make Pinot noir from

Mornington Peninsula The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geogra ...

and Leongatha

vineyards A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

that are not owned by the estate. Bass Phillip has been using

Biodynamic wine Biodynamic wines are wines made employing the biodynamic methods both to grow the fruit and during the post-harvest processing. Biodynamic wine production uses organic farming methods (''e.g.,'' employing compost as fertilizer and avoiding most p ...

practices in its vineyards since 2006 after visiting Burgundy and seeing the difference that he believed that biodynamics had made to the wines of the producers he tasted. Bass Phillip does not have organic or biodynamic certification and is no longer allowed to include these terms on their labels. Bass Phillip has been described by Jeni Port as "Australia's foremost maker of pinot noir" and by Robert Parker as making "brilliant Pinot noirs, undoubtedly the finest being produced in Australia".

Wines and vineyards

About 1500 cases of wine are produced each vintage. The most well regarded wine produced by Bass Phillip is the ''Reserve'' Pinot noir.

Langton's Classification of Australian Wine ''Langton's Classification of Australian Wine'' is a listing of fine Australian wines compiled by wine-specialist auction house and online merchant Langton's. The Classification is a ranking of the best-performing Australian wines based on secon ...

placed this wine at their highest level of "Exceptional" in 2005 and 2010, with the ''Premium'' Pinot noir placed at the second highest level of "Outstanding" in 2000, 2005 and 2010. Bass Phillip main vineyard in Leongatha is used to produce the ''Reserve'', ''Premium'' and ''Estate'' level Pinot noir wines from 3.5 hectares of vines. This estate vineyard has a vine density of 9000 per hectare, much denser than a typical premium Australian Pinot noir vineyard. Three other vineyards are owned by Bass Phillip - ''Belrose'' and ''Issan'' which are both 3 hectares and ''Village'' which is 9.5 hectares. Each of these vineyards produce a single vineyard Pinot noir labelled with the same name as the vineyard. In addition to Pinot noir based wines, Bass Phillip produces two Chardonnay based wines with ''Estate'' and ''Premium'' designations as well as a

Gamay Gamay is a purple-colored grape variety used to make red wines, most notably grown in Beaujolais and in the Loire Valley around Tours. Its full name is Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc. It is a very old cultivar, mentioned as long ago as the 15th centu ...

, a

Rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method. ...

and limited quantities of

Gewürztraminer Gewürztraminer () is an aromatic wine grape variety, used in white wines, and performs best in cooler climates. In English, it is sometimes referred to colloquially as Gewürz (; although this is never the case in German, because "Gewürz" me ...

References

External links

Bass Phillip official website
{{Langton's Classification of Australian Wine VI - Producers Wineries_in_Victoria_(Australia) Food and drink companies established in 1979 1979 establishments in Australia