Cellar Master's Report 2015

Wine & Food Society of Ballarat : Cellar-Masters Report (2015)

2015 was my first year as Cellar-Master and I felt quite honoured that the members had entrusted me to fill this position, thank you, I looked forward to the challenge and also realized a need to maintain the high standard set by my predecessor, Jim Patterson.

We consumed around 232 bottles last year, 204 from our cellar plus another 18 - some of which were donated and the remainder bought to meet special needs.

We spent about $7,685 to purchase 136 bottles of wine with an average price of about $56.50.

At the start of 2015 we had around 1400 bottles in the cellar and ended the year with around 1300 bottles, down a little but still plenty to meet our needs.

I set myself the goal when replenishing wines for our cellar, to find a happy mix of tried and true ‘old favourites’ as well as some from lesser known labels and wine-makers, all at the best price possible, this I believe I have achieved.

I anticipate that in the future, these wines will result in a smacking-of -the-lips and  a small nod of approval from the members!

I thank our Food-Master, Andrew Lewis, for his choice of venues and for some  interesting and delightful dishes that we enjoyed throughout 2015.

I also thank our Wine-Master, Dean Stevens, with the occasional help from Andrew Bradley, for meeting the challenge of matching wines to these courses. Well done!

Salute!

John Coco