Bass Phillip’s first estate vineyard was planted south of Leongatha, Victoria, in 1979 by Phillip Jones, then a research engineer. Since the early 1980s Phillip's attention has been on Pinot Noir varietal wines.

"Since the early days, the approach has been somewhat organic, but that philosophy became more refined over time to the point that no toxic chemicals have been used in vineyard and winery since 1993, and biodynamic preparations and practices have been adopted since 2006," Phillip says.

"The basic philosophy at Bass Phillip has been to allow the forces of nature to dominate the process, and to encourage the natural (terroir) flavours to be expressed clearly.

"Essentially, the vineyards (now there are five small plots) determine the wine style, and this is achieved with very close planting (9,000 to 17,000 vines per hectare), no irrigation, and low fruit cropping levels per vine (much less than one kilogram).

"The wines reflect the strengths of the terroir, which has deep mineral-rich soils, moderately high rainfall, and cool summer and autumn temperatures: the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and aromatic white varieties perform well here. For the Pinot grape, high minerality, good natural acidity and a strong terroir presence place these wines amongst Australia’s best."

Phillip’s goal with these wines is to refine their composition and flavour expression with the help of biodynamics, which is already providing wines with more purity of fruit, expression of site character and an energetic vibrance. Several distinct Pinot Noirs are made at Bass Phillip, from each of the five vineyards.