Winery & Vintage Info
The Bass Phillip legacy began in the early 1970s with the selection of the first vineyard site 15 kilometers south of Leongatha. The ideal combination of climatic and topographical factors, along with moderating influences from the nearby mountains and ocean, provides the perfect conditions for grapes to ripen slowly and fully. An additional 7.5-hectare vineyard was established in 1998, primarily growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, as well as small quantities of Gewurztraminer and Nebbiolo. Located on a north-facing slope in Leongatha's hinterland, this vineyard brings our total area of vines to over 10 hectares. Our wines truly represent our vines and their terroir, with old, close-planted vines, low crop yields, and natural processes and sprays. Our meticulous canopy management ultimately results in wines with exceptional depth, length, and complexity.
Bunches are carefully sorted upon arrival at the winery on a sorting table then conveyed to a ‘state of the art’ incline destemmer. The whole berries are gently conveyed directly to open fermenters with an addition of 40 ppm SO2. A natural ferment starts usually within 4 days but hand plunging commences from the start until draining/pressing. Usually between 10-14 days from harvest, the wine is drained, the skins pressed gently and combined with the free run wine which is settled for a week or so before racking to barrel using gravity. Malo Lactic occurs naturally in barrel and once complete the wine gets 60 ppm SO2. Our Premium Pinot is a selection of only the very best barrels of which 38% were new this year. All barrels are light toasted and extra tight grain oak. Barrels are topped and checked regularly. Wine stays in barrel for 14 months, when it’s simply gravity decanted off lees via a spigot inserted at the bottom of the barrel to a blending tank. No fining of any sort, or filtration before bottling.
