SMOKE AND TERROIRS
After the catastrophic bushfire season saw major damage to winemaking regions across Australia, Sydney-based distillers and breweries have stepped in to take on smoke-tainted wine grapes for use in experimental, collaborative projects.
“It was clear right from the start there was a unique opportunity and desire to help growers who had suffered a massive loss,” says Christina Tulloch, chief executive of Tulloch Wines and president of the Hunter Valley
Wine & Tourism Association. Compounded by climate change following months of record-breaking drought and temperatures, the summer’s bushfires devastated 1500 hectares of vineyards, with more crops tainted by smoke beyond fire-affected areas. In the Hunter Valley, up to 90 per cent of crops were wiped out and the remaining grapes were so smoke-damaged that winemakers abandoned entire vintages.
Smoke taint makes grapes virtually unusable for winemaking, but other processing methods used for spirits and beer can curb those defects. Collaborating with Sydney-based Archie Rose Distilling Co., Tulloch helped source 48,000 litres of smoke-tainted cabernet and shiraz grapes from the Hunter Valley.
“This project absolutely threw the growers a lifeline,” says Tulloch. The distillery transformed the grapes into a shiraz-based eau de vie; a brandy
(now ageing in old bourbon barrels for three years); and a forthcoming spirit.
“Smoke can carry all different kinds of flavours – burnt, ashy or the nice, peaty flavours you might see in a whisky,” says Archie Rose senior distiller Trynt Xavier. He worked closely with First Creek Wines’ Liz Silkman to craft the fruit-driven end products – the eau de vie, for example, has a palate of tropical fruit and a light smokiness. “It took a lot of research, but we’re happy we were able to separate the good from the bad.”
Yulli’s Brews turned 700 kilos of smoke-tainted grapes from Gilbert Family Wines’ Mudgee vineyard into a beer-wine hybrid. “It’s tasting brilliant, with a lot of the easier drinking flavours you get from a beer, and some really nice red-wine tannin,” says head brewer Tom Davies of the co-ferment, which is set for release this summer. Combining the crushed grapes – skins and all – with a beer base for the first fermentation, the mixture was later transferred to oak barrels for nine months of ageing, much like maturing a wine.
Fire events have damaged $400 million worth of wine grapes here since 2003. “We want to make a point of how terrible this year’s been for all the winemakers affected,” says Davies. “In the times we live in, everyone’s going to have to learn to pivot a little bit more.” ALECIA WOOD