Legendary Australian pinot noir producer Bass Phillip was sold to a consortium of three buyers a few weeks ago, March 31, right on the cusp of the 2020 harvest. Phillip Jones, who planted the vineyard in 1979 and sold the first Bass Phillip wines in 1991, has put his final harvest to bed at the estate in South Gippsland and is looking forward to some well-earned rest following the sale. 

We recently tasted the wines from his 2018 vintage. There are great chardonnay wines and an impressive gamay, but the pinot noirs have always been the wines by which Bass Phillip has been judged. The recent 2017 vintage release was one of the finest in the estate’s history and the new 2018 vintage wines (eight in total) are newly reviewed here as they are about to enter the market. 

Jones explained that the 2018 vintage was a cryptic one and the wines really needed their time in cask and in bottle to build and come together. “They’ve never had the depth of flavor of the 2017s,“ explained Jones. “But the length of flavor and acid structure are there. They aren’t immediately obvious wines.”

Tasting through the four grades of Bass Phillip 2018 pinot noir, from Crown Prince, to Estate, Premium and finally Reserve, the wines are quite different in terms of shape and structure and they don’t follow a linear progression.

The 2018 Crown Prince Pinot Noir is looser-knit than the others and delivers plenty of punchy, knock-about pinot character. The 2018 Estate pinot has a polished and complex style and the 2018 Premium pinot doubles down on this with greater depth, complexity and length. It is a very convincing wine. Then the top tier 2018 Reserve Pinot Noir takes off in a direction of more ethereal characters and greater levity, delivering a lacy yet long and powerful impression.

Bass Phillip sold, Burgundy’s Jean-Marie Fourrier now in charge

Regarding the sale of the estate, Singaporean vintner Soo Hoo Khoon Peng is said to have put the purchase together with Burgundian vigneron Jean-Marie Fourrier (Domaine Fourrier) and Hong Kong-based investor Kent Ho. Soo Hoo has built a long-standing relationship with Jones and Bass Phillip via his controlling interest in Singaporean wine merchant Hermitage Wines who have sold the Bass Phillip wines in the Singapore market in the past. He is also the former owner of the Wine Advocate, the American wine review company, before selling to the Michelin Guide.

Jones explains that he first started thinking about selling up as far back as 2010 as there were no direct family members to take the business on. “I still love doing it,” he explains. “But I am getting too bloody tired.”

Several potential suitors were entertained, most notably in the last three years, and Fourrier’s familial ties to Victoria led the Burgundian to become the all-important winemaking component in the new partnership with Soo Hoo and Ho.

As much as Jones has attracted unanimously high praise for his wines from all quarters, the fact that a producer of Fourrier’s pedigree is investing in the future of the project is another form of recognition. In the 40-odd years Jones has been at the helm of Bass Phillip, his unrelenting research-driven approach to making great pinot noir has seen his wines reach spectacular heights.

These 2018s are, as always, a set of Bass Phillip pinots that express the intersection of vineyard, vintage and Philip Jones’ inquisitive elucidation of the harvest. It will be fascinating to see Jean-Marie Fourrier’s foray into crafting great Australian pinot noir as he assumes the winemaking responsibilities and to see just how he goes about crafting the next generation of Bass Phillip wines.

– Nick Stock, executive editor