Margaret River is not just about fine wine
Margaret River's stunning surrounds have long inspired exceptional wines, but other drinks are fast emerging in this Western Australian region.
At Harmans Estate, a tiny still sits among the tanks of the custom crush operation. In it, Greg Garnish produces a range of Pisco, a distilled wine that is a staple of South America’s Chile and Peru.
It’s easy to think Margaret River is solely about very good wine, but to quote one local winemaker, it is “awash with good booze”. Indeed it is, with the Western Australian region seeing an emergence of craft spirits, including Australia’s first – and to date, only – Pisco, plus beer, cider and more.
Andrew Watson and wife Marie
Dutheil of Woodlands Wines use Western Australian apples to create fresh cider for their separate business, George the Fox. Without any fining, filtration or pasteurisation, the cider is matured in vintage French barrels for six months, receiving the same level of care as their wines throughout the process.
They aren’t the only ones detouring from their traditional path. Rob and Karen Gough, who are known for their cracking wine list at Settler’s Tavern, also make their own beer through their brewery, Margaret River Ale Company. The resulting Rock'in Pale Ale, Great White Pale Ale, Bombora Pilsner and Day Tr'IPA India Pale Ale are all sold at the pub.
Greg Garnish has taken experimentation and curiosity to new heights with a project that’s grabbed global attention. At Harmans Estate, a tiny still sits among the tanks of the custom crush operation. In it, Greg produces a range of Pisco, a distilled wine that is a staple of South America’s Chile and Peru. Enjoyed neat or mixed, they are popular among craft bartenders, with Pisco Black, Pisco White and
Pisco Negroni among the range.
Greg’s desire to try something new led him to buy the still. “The spirit that was coming out was so flavoursome, even at 80 or 90 per cent alcohol,” he says. “You could drink it, and it was like ‘Wow, what have we got here?’” After a little research, Greg found that he was essentially creating Pisco.
He casually mentions they’re being “sued by Peru”, as if it were some local squabble. The Peruvian government – one of the world’s largest Pisco producers – has been pursuing them on trademark grounds, claiming his product is not truly Pisco and therefore misleading. But Greg says there are differences in production even between Peru and Chile. He’s taking it all in his stride and seems to welcome the attention on their fledgling enterprise. Creating Pisco was largely a case of trial and error for Greg and his team. “We have 18 grape varieties that we crush in the winery. We distilled every single variety as free-run juice, as pressings, as oaked and unoaked, as new and old wine, and from doing those hundreds of different small batches, we learned where the good product is.”
They isolated five grape varieties that work best for Pisco – sauvignon blanc, semillon, chenin blanc, verdelho and chardonnay. The biggest discovery was that in order to get fine, floral and fruity notes, it was critical to purpose-make the wine especially for Pisco. Once they approached it this way, the quality jump was huge. “Super-aromatic wine doesn’t necessarily become a super-aromatic spirit,” Greg says. “We make the wine with no intervention at all. We don’t add anything because additions [show up] in the spirit.”
More quality spirits are coming out of Margaret River Distilling Company, an offshoot of the Great Southern Distilling Company in Albany – makers of the world-renowned Limeburners single malt whisky. Distiller and owner Cameron Syme set out to make one of the world’s truly great single malts. Over the years, he has repeatedly proven that Western Australian whisky can indeed compete on the world stage, and now he’s turned his attention to gin.
Ben Tassone, manager of the Margaret River outpost, introduces me to Giniversity, where customers can sample the range and make their own gin.
“We give you the history of gin for an understanding of where it came from and what kind of botanicals are used, and then we get to experiment,” Ben says. Among the botanicals are native lemon myrtle, rose petals and aniseed, to name a few. Anything seed-based is ground in a mortar and pestle. Measurements are made and the blend of botanicals is soaked in a neutral grape spirit for more than an hour, while small counter-top stills are set up.
“Most people use around eight botanicals,” Ben says. “We also get you to taste our gins so you get an understanding of what you like – the London Dry style, something more botanical or barrel aged.” As for Ben’s own preference, he isn’t averse to experimenting. “I’ve been thinking of it for years, but I wanted to use olives because I like dirty martinis. I got the olives that we marinate here in chilli and garlic, and put them in the dehydrator, broke it up, soaked it in and then distilled it.” The verdict? “It’s savoury and just beautiful.”