Australia's first Cognac-styled spirit

Australia’s first Cognac-style aged spirit, Ochre, will be presented to the public at the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival in March, 2015.

Symbolising the desire to explore uncharted territory, two famous Australian explorers, George Bass and Matthew Flinders serve as the inspiration behind Bass & Flinders distillery.

An artisanal distillery, Bass & Flinders produce grape spirit using a traditional Alembic Pot Still to create a range of worldâ€class distillations.

The distillery is unique in that it produces its own grape spirit used to produce a range of international award winning gins, Australia’s first grape based vodka and of course, the traditional aged spirit, Ochre. As well as being well known for its ever popular gin masterclass.

Bass & Flinders Distillery was founded in 2009 by Wayne Klintworth and Bob Laing. During that year they investigated the Mornington Peninsula and discovered many wineries but no distilleries. They saw this as an opportunity and created an artisanal distillery for the production of quality grape spirits.

Their discovery inspired them to set about creating a unique artisanal distillery, set apart from any other on the Mornington Peninsula. To achieve their goals Wayne and Bob enlisted the assistance of an internationally recognised master distiller to mentor them in the art of distillation. They have also forged contacts with artisanal distilleries in Cognac and Normandy, France.

Bass & Flinders Distillery uses the finest Chardonnay grapes from Victoria's Red Hill region, one of Australia's most thriving regions for cool climate Chardonnay grapes.

The grapes are harvested at the precise moment when the flavour spectrum for distillation is at its peak. They are then pressed immediately using traditional techniques and fermentation of the juice immediately follows using only the cleanest, purest grapes with no additives.

To achieve a world-class spirit, the distillation processes the distillery uses are identical to those used by the French Cognac producers who distill the spirit for major production houses. Distillation takes place in traditionally shaped copper stills, also known as “Alembic Charentais”. The Alambic Charentais is not something one can simply 'create'. Exact rules are set on how the alembic is supposed to look and operate based on age-old traditions.

As the liquid boils in the copper stills, the wine begins its transformation into eau-de-vie (French for "water of life") through a distillation process. The quality of Ochre spirit resides entirely on the quality of its eau-de-vie. The double distillation of wines converts into eau-de-vie and is thus a major part of the production process. This is the moment when the first aromas, characteristics and promises of taste sensations reveal themselves.

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