BWFS: January 2017

Cellar Master's report 2016

Wine & Food Society of Ballarat : Cellar-Master’s Report for 2016

2016 was my second year as Cellar-master and believe that I have done the Cellar and the Members proud!

In 2015 the number of bottles in the cellar dropped by about 100, that is from around 1400 bottles to around 1300 bottles, this was mainly due to a smaller budget and wine prices being higher.

During that year we consumed 232 bottles (204 from the cellar) and spent $7685 to buy 136 bottles; it was either a choice of buying more, lesser quality wines or less, better quality wines, I opted for the latter.

In 2016 an increase in my budget allowed me to help improve on the number of bottles kept in the cellar.

We consumed 250 bottles of wine (227 from the cellar) throughout 2016, I spent over $14,000 to buy 269 bottles at an average cost of $52.75; there was around 1360 bottles in the cellar at the end of the year with a conservative value of $96,300.

I believe that around 1350 bottles is a good number of wines to maintain in the cellar and if we continue to consume around 250 each year and replace around similar number this should allow for a good balance of new and older wines.

John Coco

Cellar-Master - January 2017

Treasurer's Report 2016

BALLARAT WINE AND FOOD SOCIETY TREASURER'S REPORT 2016

I would like to present my 5^th treasurer's report for the Ballarat Wine and Food Society

This society remains financially sound with a current bank balance of $1858 with no outstanding liabilities

Income from cellar fees subscriptions and dinner fees were stable at $32580

Expenditure was slightly higher at $34089due to a significant increase in wine purchases of $14944 by our industrious cellar master John Coco This was offset by less expenditure on catering due to less attendances at dinners by members

I would recommend keeping the new cellar fee subscription and dinner fees the same for the upcoming year

Philip Dover

1967 Colin Preece Memorial Burgundy

I have been cellaring and drinking Australian wine since 1968. I purchased four bottles of this wine in 1982 and have kept an empty bottle in my cellar because it is the most memorable red wine I have had the pleasure to drink and to think that you had a bottle in late 2016!

I have a preponderance of Hunter Valley and Grampians reds in my cellar and still have a 1960 Seppelt Q72 Hermitage made by Colin Preece. The right occasion must arise soon to drink it!

Cheers,

Paul Coghlan

Sydney

Colin Preece (1903-1979), winemaker, graduated dux from Roseworthy Agricultural College in 1923 planning to manage the family flour mill. However, after taking an optional subject in oenology, he decided to join the staff at Seppeltsfield. He arrived at Great Western during the depression in late 1932. Starting from a focus on simply keeping the company afloat, he retired 30 years later as one of the key winemakers of Australia, producing a number of dry white, dry red and sparkling wines for Great Western of exceptional complexity and quality. Ranked with Maurice O'Shea as Australia's great winemaker and master blender, in the production of sparkling wine he is said to have had no local peer.