What you see is what you get: "I'm earthy but also spicy"
HER NAME
TESS
MAKES SIPS AT
VS&B
It's clear to us that Tessa's personality is emulated throughout VS&B wines; being easy-going, approachable, yet intriguing. When we asked her what wine would match her personality, she said, "Our Thorley Shiraz. I'm a bit earthy, I'm a 'what you see is what you get' kinda person." Damn, we love a woman who knows exactly who she is.
Behind the taste of their sips, Tessa and Jeremy are a two-person operation who do all their own sales distribution, fulfillment, invoicing, picking kids up and dropping them off… Should we go on? You get the gist. Oh wait, there’s one more: Every one of their wines are made with hand-picked fruit.
“Life does what it does, it’s just something you gotta do, get through and hope it gets easier. That’s the approach we’ve taken. It’s just a balancing act. Reach for one or two drinks, instead of six…”
SIP’ER: What is your key role within VS&B? Is there anyone else that leads it with you?
TESSA: VS&B is me and my partner Jeremy. We’re co-owners and co-winemakers. I do most of the viticulture and we share most of the tasks.
SIP’ER: How did you start?
TESSA: We made the decision to jump when a property that we were shown in 2008 or 2009 came on the market in 2012. We weren’t particularly prepared but we had an idea of moving to the country and planting a vineyard one day. We really liked Beechworth and North East Victoria and in 2012, when the block came on the market, we were like “ohhhh, sweet - we gotta jump on this!”. We bought the property, moved up and the rest is history.
SIP’ER: What’s been your career highlight so far?
TESSA: We moved up to Thorley a fortnight ago. The house is unfinished: we have no running water inside, we are running on generator power and we are bathing in a fruit bin filled with war water from a karcher, but we are all here. We can do it all in one place now, whereas we’ve been spread over three sites (rental house, rental winery shed, vineyard) for so long. Just being in one place even when there’s so much still to do, is a phenomenal feeling, full of promise and potential.
SIP’ER: That’s incredible! And what do you feel like drinking at this moment?
TESSA: I guess it varies. Riesling is a pretty common “end of day” reach pour. When the weather gets a bit warmer, we do a strong line in gin and tonics. We love Remedy Gin. Riesling, G+Ts and during vintage - like every other bloody winemaker - flavourless beer!
SIP’ER: [laughs] that’s great! What’s your personal favourite?
TESSA: There’s a local brewery called Bridge Road and they make an ‘Outsider Lager’. It’s very sessionable… that’s the best way to put it I think. Not overly hoppy, not overly malty. It’s just a light and easy drinking beer.
SIP’ER: What’s the toughest part of your job that not a lot of people would know about?
TESSA: Honestly, the toughest part of the job comes down to being self-employed and sharing this huge spectrum of things you have to do. We’re self distributors so we do all our own sales trips. Jeremy goes and shakes the can around showing wines to people. I’m doing wine fulfillment and invoicing and stuff like that. And not to mention a vineyard to manage and wine to be made. And kids to be dropped off and picked up. So truly, the hardest part of the job is the juggle. We’ve written off a 5-10 year period where we’re constantly thinking we’re not getting enough done.
SIP’ER: And what drink do you feel like after a full busy day of juggling?
TESSA: Juggling life probably doesn’t really affect what we reach for at the end of the day. Life does what it does, it’s just something you gotta do, get through and hope it gets easier. That’s the approach we’ve taken. It’s just a balancing act. Reach for one or two drinks, instead of six…
SIP’ER: Verrrry responsible. What’s your favourite wine you produce? Why is it your favourite?
TESSA: We would have two different answers there. Jeremy is very drawn to Rieslings and perfecting it as much as he can for all the various styles of Riesling we’re making. I’m quite passionate about Nebbiolo, and we haven’t even released the first one yet. It does a lot of the things of a lighter to medium bodied wine, but it also does some of the things of heavy bodied wine. It’s such a nice dichotomy for a variety. That’s a passion project for me, personally.
SIP’ER: If you had to match a VS&B wine with your personality, which would it be and why?
TESSA: Our Thorley Shiraz. I’m earthy but also spicy, I’m a “what you see is what you get” kinda person.
SIP’ER: What VS&B wine brings the most joy and happy memories?
TESSA: We make a rose called Prêt-à-Rosé and that was the very first wine we made, that’s just when rose was starting to get super popular. It’s quite nerve wrecking going out into market with your first wine. You’re like, “are people going to like it?!”. That 2014 rose was the first wine we took into the marketplace and people were so nice, so encouraging and most people bought it when we went around. That brings back super happy memories. It was like “Oh yes, we’re part of a community, people know us, people like our wines and they’ll buy them”. That’s a pretty strong message to tell us that we’re on the right track.
SIP’ER: That’s super affirming - it motivates you to keep going.
TESSA: Yeah, definitely. Another thing about the Rosé is it’s one of the more humble wines we make and it’s not super expensive. It’s just a wine that most people will enjoy having a glass of. It’s about bringing people together.
SIP’ER: What do you want people to take away from the experience after drinking VS&B?
TESSA: Well, hopefully people look us up! Beechworth is a pretty popular tourist destination. We’re building a winery and cellar door that should be opening this year. So, hopefully people like us enough to look us up and come visit our neck of the woods and meet us in person.
SIP’ER: Well, us alone, we’d love to come meet you in person!