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President's Report 2016
Member of the Society,
I am pleased to present to you my Annual Report for the past year, 2016.In this day and age of
great political turmoil and change, it is reassuring to know that some
institutions remain through thick and thin, the Ballarat Wine & Food
Society is one of those institutions!
It has been an
interesting year and I thank our Food Master, Andrew Lewis for taking us on a
gastronomic journey which has included visiting our regular venues such as here
at Craig’s, some novel venues, such as Cuthbert’s Tram Restaurant, and not
forgetting a very enjoyable Picnic at Andrew’s property. There were also some
venues which did not quite work out!
All dinners have been
accompanied by excellent selections of wines, and I would like to thank Andrew
Bradley for his great contribution as Wine Master, and also for officiating at
the occasional dinner as Food Master when circumstances necessitated.
That wine selection has
been made possible by the work done by John Coco in managing the cellar, and in
continuing to build on the great foundations laid down by Cellar Masters Past -
John has elaborated further in his report. Thanks are due to
Office Bearers, Secretary, Dean Stevens, and Treasurer, Phil Dover, as well as
the other Committee Members, Jim Patterson and Shaun English. Phil has indicated he
wishes to resign as Treasurer and also as a committee member, and we thank him
for his contribution to the Society over the years.
Also retiring from the
Committee is Jim Patterson who has been associated with the Wine & Food
Societies of Australia for over 50 years, and has contributed greatly to our
Society, most recently, and preceding John Coco, as Cellar Master - thank you
Jim for your contribution.
As your President, I
have been pleased to represent our Society at several functions during the
year, most notably that of the Ararat Wine & Food Society’s 60th Birthday
Celebratory Dinner. Our Society sponsored the Ararat Society and it was good to
continue that connection. More about our involvement with Ararat shortly, but I
did want to mention that Cheryl and I also attended the Ballarat Wine Show
Presentation Dinner at which our Society always provides an award for the Best
Red Wine.
My report would not be
complete without mentioning the Ian Home Memorial Dinner, held to recognise and
celebrate the outstanding contribution made by Ian Home, Past Member and Past
President, to our Society, to the Wine & Food Society of Australia, and to
the wine industry in general. We were very pleased to be able to host Ian’s
wife, Sue Home, together with Ian’s three daughters, Jenny Rizzo, Claire
Jelbart and Barbara Murphy. We were also pleased to be able to host two
lifelong friends of the Home family, and friends of our Society, Nina Valentine
and Nola Oliver.Also present were
previous members of our Society, and the FWFSA Committee was represented by its
President, Joanna More and the Treasurer, John Pierce.
This year, the Wine
& Food Society of Ararat is hosting the Victor Gibson Dinner and Weekend in
Hall’s Gap on April 22 & 23 - I would urge all members to give
consideration to attending and supporting Ararat and the FWFSA in this event. I will now send this
report to out to our in-house blogger, Bob House, who deserves a great vote of
thanks for managing the society’s blogspot which I understand is frequently and
regularly viewed by many in the Webosphere.
Thank You,
Wine Master's report 2016
Wine Masters Report 2016
It is with great pleasure that I tender my report for 2016.
Having the honour of choosing and then serving wines from your cellar
throughout the year has been not only been daunting but exciting and
challenging as well.
This task has been made that much easier due to the current
and previous Cellar Masters who have established a well-balanced array of wine
from which to choose from. Thank you to those who have carried out this task.
One of the biggest challenges remains that of quantity – is
it a 2 or 3 bottle bracket of wine – due in main to the numbers at each dinner
and any feedback from members on this would be appreciated.
Whilst it is almost impossible to please everyone’s taste in
terms of the style and age of wine appropriate for the food each month I trust
you have enjoyed the wines I have selected from your cellar during the year.
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 5th
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.
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