Bathurst Region Vignerons Association busy boosting business

That's where the Bathurst Region Vignerons Association comes in.

The group has been supporting and promoting local wineries for around 30 years, and has slowly grown during that time.

Part-owner of local winery Rock Forest Vineyard, Trish Pearse, is the newly-appointed president of the group, and the first female to ever fill that position, and she said it's a terrific group.

"It's a very supportive group, which is a lovely thing," Ms Pearse said.

"When we [Rock Forest] first started, we thought nobody would want to help us because we'd be rivals, but there's none of that. People are just extraordinarily helpful and friendly."

The vignerons association currently has six wineries in the group, all of which are cold climate winemakers. And the association is still growing.

In addition to Ms Pearse's Rock Forest Vineyard, there's Bellbrook Friends Winery, Winburndale Vineyard and Winery, Renzaglia Wines, Vale Creek Wines and Grass Parrot Vineyard.

However, at a recent social evening held at Harvest Café, representatives from Bathurst Grange Distillery and Box Grove also attended.

"The idea of the evening was just to get people to know that there are some good winemakers around here," Ms Pearse said.

"It's a really nice association. We're not very big and Bathurst as a wine region is not very well-known, which is another reason for doing this - to try and get a little bit more publicity and make a few more people know that we exist and we make quite good wines."

The group attends various events - including the Royal Bathurst Show and the Winter Festival - around Bathurst to promote local winemakers each year.

For any wine connoisseurs interested in supporting local businesses, more information on each winery and their products can be found online on their websites and Facebook pages.

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