BANGOR VINEYARD SHED
We’re always motivated to keep looking at what we’re doing and improving and moving forward. Something that we’re pretty motivated to do is to keep improving where we are and changing. “We do a lot of analysis of our business, we spend a lot of time looking at the numbers and looking at how everything’s running and thinking ‘what’s working, what’s not working, how can we change and adapt?’ and obviously the times change as well. Both in farming and also in hospitality, from one year to the next it can be a completely different environment, whether it’s Covid one year, or people travelling overseas for their first overseas holiday in other year. There’s always a challenge out there somewhere. It is our vision to always be flexible and nimble and change with the times.” When it comes to changing with the times, there has been plenty at Bangor across the past 12 months as Vanessa and Matt refuse to rest on their laurels. One of the larger projects was an upgrade to the kitchen, doubling the size of the area which now allows the business to cater for larger functions and events and further enhance day-to-day service. There has also been a big focus on the tours and wine tasting options, ranging from the food and wine pairing experiences on offer to the wine tasting experiences and vineyard tours. However one of the most exciting prospects for Vanessa is on the horizon for later 2024 and comes from another major expansion – this time in the fields. “We doubled the size of our vineyard in 2021 and this year we picked some our first grapes from that new planting that’ll actually go into a sparkling rose wine, which is the first time that we’ve had a sparkling rose so that’s a new wine in our lineup,” Vanessa says. “That
was part of the new vineyard, and then the rest of the new part of the vineyard will come online next year. We’ll be doubling our grape production which provides us with lots of opportunity to develop new wine labels and look at our range. It is exciting times on the wine side of things.” “Like in any industry, but something we have certainly experienced in farming, is that if you stand still, you’re actually going backwards.”
- Vanessa Dunbabin
Vanessa also points to one key reason for the ongoing success of Bangor. “We’ve got an incredible team of locals who all live within around 20 minutes of our building, they work incredibly hard to keep all the people that come in and visit us happy and deliver an incredible experience all the time. We also love being part of the broader tourism and hospitality industry, we find it a really supportive and collegial industry here in Tassie, we have a lot of partnerships with other tour providers, local producers and other people that come together to help make Bangor what it is.” Bangor was one of 11 Tasmanian medallists at the 2023 Australian Tourism Awards – seven of which were gold. This included fellow THA members Grain of the Silos (Tourism Restaurants and Catering Services), while Peppers Silo Hotel snared silver in the Business Event Venues category, a feat Ship Inn Stanley matched in the 4-4.5 Star Deluxe Accommodation.
38 Tasmanian Hospitality Review April/May Edition
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