BWFS

Thursday  20 th   March  2025 Canapes  Oyster , S easoned  S oy,  F inger  L ime Pickled  M ussels,  S amphire,  D ill,  S our  D ough Mushroon  S kewers,  S alsa Verde 20 1 3 Heemskerk Coal River Valley Chardonnay Pinot Noi r Entrée  Rock Flat H ead ,  S moked  T omato  W ater,  Le mon  B asil 2016 Tomboy Hill"The Tomboy" Chardonnay 2019 Clyde Park Block C Chardonnay Main Roasted  A ged  D uck  B reast,  R uby  G rapefruit,  W itlof ,  Dauphinoise  P otatoes 2008 Tibooburra Solitude Pinot Noir 20 08 Maison de Grand Espri t  Cote  de Nuits-Villages 20 16 For adori Teroldego Dessert Pineapple  T art  T artin,  L ime  I ce  C ream 2022 Sara cco  Moscato d’Asti Food Master:  Andrew Bradley Wine Master:  Paul Martino  & Shaun English Head Chef:  Damien Jones

For the Year Ending 31 December 2024 For presentation  at  AGM 20 March 2024 It has been a pleasure to serve as Tresure of the club for the past year.  Please find attached Financial Statements for the Year Ending 31 December 202 4 , comprising the Profit and Loss Statement  &  Balance Sheet for the Wine and Food Society .  Of note from the financials: Dinner Fees for the year were $34,409 (up from $30,930 LY) Cellar Fees were $13,200 ( up from $ 1 3, 650  LY) Dinner expenses were $29,435 ( up from $ 27,235  LY) Wine Purchases Were $14,316 for the year (up from ($8,465 LY) Moving forward it is becoming increasingly difficult to cover the dinner expenses with $150 per head.  It is recommended to increase dinner fees to $160.  Wine prices have also continued to increase Cellar fees for the year resulted in a deficit. The cellar has some gaps in it and the Wine master has requested more funds to replenish and restock the cellar. As such...

Ballarat Wine & Food Society Wine Master's Report 2024-2025. Having now completed one full year in the Wine Master role, feel like I am getting to know our cellar and perhaps your tastes? One aim I have for my time is to try and be a bit proactive in selecting some wines that are already at their peak and will only decline from here. To some extent those wines are at the pinot end of the wine spectrum! We just enjoyed our second year of the local’s dinner, where this year we featured both Best Wines and Eastern Peake Winery. Special thanks to Hamish (Bests) and Norman (Eastern Peake) for making the time to share both their wines and their respective wineries history while we were treated to magnificent food by Laim Downes at Black Cat Truffles. One trend I am noticing as a consumer of wine myself is the demand for grape varieties that sit outside those we typically grew up with. That combined with a desire to enjoy some of those grape varieties at a younger age, sometimes prese...

President's Report 2024/25 2024 was another great year for the Society, with strong attendances at most dinners, averaging close to 20 attendees. I would like to thank our food master, Andrew Bradley who introduced some new venues to our membership over the year. Highlights for me last year was the combined dinner with Beefsteak and Burgundy, the dinner we attended at the Underbar, as well as our most recent outing at Blackcat Truffles. The last 2 venues underscoring  our wonderful culinary scene, in what many would say was a difficult year for the sector. Thanks as well to our Wine Master Paul, who managed to serve up some wonderful wines, with out having to resort to ChatGPT (or so I’m told).   Having recently stepped out of that role, I can confirm that—even with our excellent cellar—the position comes with its own pressures. Each month, you must satisfy a discerning panel of dinner guests, and one wrong pour could see you (metaphorically) burned at the stake. Equal th...

The Wine and Food Society of Ballarat's cellar is in good shape, with 1305 bottles, a fairly stable amount.  The estimated value is $91 000.   Consumption over the year 1/3/2024 to 28/2/2025 was 299 bottles, valued at $20443 (this number does represent a recent stocktake and correction, so not all these wines were drunk).   Purchases over the same period amounted to 231 bottles at a value of $8466 (this is inaccurate - my apologies, not all purchase details were entered on the database).   Countries represented (in order) are Australia, Italy, France, Spain and then others. There is a predominance of red wine in the cellar, mainly due to the shorter cellaring times of white wines.   Future plans include offering some of the wines for members to purchase.  This is to address the wines where too few bottles are in stock for a dinner.  The funds garnered will then be reinvested into the cellar.   Buying strategy is to purchase wines that members may ...

Thank you for entrusting me with providing the venues and food for the Society over the past year. Th e Food Masters  role is exciting, nerve wracking and rewarding at the same time  as y ou never know how the Dinner is going to work out until it actually happens. However, w orking with  all  the venues, chefs and staff  has ,  I trust provided the Members with a positive experience . This year we dined at the following new venues: Underbar Olive Grove Black Cat Truffles Chez Bradley All  of these new Venues  provided different experiences but ones that I trust were enjoyed by the Members. The Society also hosted the Combined Dinner with Beefsteak and Burgundy which was a great suc cess. Thank you to Paul Martino and Shaun  E nglish for their input into  and  the  sourcing and buying of some of the  wines  for the Dinner. During the year we had: 11 Dinners ,  March 2 4  to  February 2 5 , ex Jan uary 21...