The ability for wine producers to turn smoke-tainted fruit into an alternative income stream has been demonstrated with the assistance of a PhD scholarship funded by Wine Australia.
Distiller Hugh Holds was researching the impact of climate change on brandy production in Australia at the University of Adelaide when he received a PhD top-up scholarship from Wine Australia that enabled him to explore whether smoke-tainted fruit could be made into a commercially-viable brandy product.
A former winemaker, Hugh made the transition to making spirits following a couple of years in the grape and wine sector. After producing whiskey for about a decade, he found himself between jobs and decided to head back to university to undertake a PhD, focussing on brandy — a product he is keen to see take advantage of the rise in the popularity of craft spirits in Australia.
“There’s a boom in craft spirits which is seeing these drinks become trendy again, but this hasn’t involved brandy like it has in other parts of the world like the United States,” Hugh said. “It would be great to make it cool again in Australia like whisky has become. But there’s no point spending money on doing this until we know the risks to production from climate change factors. My PhD planned to answer these questions. And then the idea of making brandy from smoke-tainted winegrapes arose.”
Hugh said he’d observed during his travels around the world during his whisky-making days that there was a market for smoky versions of the drink and wondered whether there might be scope for a smoky brandy.
In 2019, the year before Hugh started his PhD, bushfires devastated parts of the Adelaide Hills. The fire affected the vineyard of Simon Tolley Wines at Woodside, leaving the fruit unsuitable for wine production. Fifth-generation grapegrower Simon Tolley decided to donate the fruit to the University of Adelaide, some of which Hugh was able to use to turn into brandy.
With a family history of making brandy, Simon Tolley was keen for Hugh’s efforts to be commercialised, culminating in a limited release smoked and barrel-aged brandy which was launched on 20 December 2024 — the fifth anniversary of the Cudlee Creek bushfires.
