Victorian winery Seppelt today is probably best known for its exquisite table wines.

I’m talking about St Peters Shiraz from its home region of the Grampians, and chardonnay, riesling and pinot noir from the esteemed Drumborg Vineyard in the cooler climes of Henty.

Perhaps lesser known to some of us is Seppelt’s rich heritage in sparkling wines.

In 2022, the company highlighted that pedigree with two new cuvees named in honour of Charles Pierlot, the Frenchman who in 1890 made Australia’s first traditional method sparkling wines at Seppelt’s Great Western winery.

Pierlot also pioneered one of Australia’s most unique wine styles, sparkling shiraz.

Seppelt Show Sparkling remains the benchmark for this style today. And Seppelt winemaker Clare Dry argues it deserves to be consumed more broadly than the traditional occasion of Christmas time.

In this special episode of Drinks Adventures, produced in partnership with Seppelt, I started by asking Clare about the story behind this unique wine.

Later in this interview, you’ll find out a little bit more about how sparkling shiraz is made, and we’ll explore the new vintage, 2012 Show Sparkling, released this year.

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Dr Tim Jones is undoubtedly one of Australia’s top cider makers. After starting his drinks production career making industrial cider in Cascade Brewery, Tim joined Willie Smith’s as head cider maker in 2014.

He stayed in that role until 2020 and during that period of almost six years, Willie Smith’s won a stack of trophies for its ciders showcasing the complexity offered by heirloom English and French cider apple varieties.

Tim’s new venture is Wild Mother Tasmania, a vinegar company that like Willie Smiths is based in the Huon Valley, Tasmania.

Wild Mother is dedicated to minimal intervention, unfiltered and unpasteurised vinegars from apples and cherries, some of which have been aged in casks that have previously held bourbon, port and Tasmanian whisky.

And more relevantly to this podcast, there are also some liqueurs and apple brandies in the pipeline that you’ll hear about, right after Tim explains how he first became interested in exploring the world of craft vinegar.

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Five years ago when I started this podcast I never thought I’d see small craft brewers making products like hard seltzers, low carb and non-alcoholic beers, or “cervezas” that to me look very much like the macro lagers they originally railed against.

But these are interesting and challenging times in the drinks industry. All producers are currently grappling with a plethora of economic headwinds and the need to cater for increasingly health conscious consumers.

Chris Moschos, who is innovation director at Lion, is better placed than most to speak about these trends.

Prior to joining Lion – Australia’s second biggest brewer – in February 2022, Chris worked for almost 14 years at spirits company Diageo Australia.

In this interview, Chris and I speak about a couple of Lion’s big bets in 2023. James Squire Stride, the first low carb beer released by the pioneering craft beer brand in its 25-year history.

And Kirin Hyoketsu, a premix vodka lemon sour that’s been phenomenally successful in Japan, where it’s been available since 2001.

This is a special episode of the Drinks Adventures podcast, produced in partnership with Lion.

And given Chris’s job title, I started this interview by asking what the word ‘innovation’ means to him.

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Darwin Distilling Co is a Northern Territory distillery founded by our guest this episode of the podcast, hospitality entrepreneur Rebecca Bullen.

Originally from Victoria, Bec was lured to Darwin by the opportunity to open the city’s first wine bar, Stone House, which launched in 2016 and is still going strong today.

She subsequently opened the gin bar and restaurant Charlie’s of Darwin in January 2020, with the distillery as its centrepiece.

Carefully avoiding encounters with snakes and crocodiles, Bec forages local botanicals to create a uniquely Territorian range of gins and vodkas, with cane spirits also in the pipeline.

I’m somewhat ashamed to say that I’ve never been Darwin, or the NT for that matter, so started by asking Bec about the appeal of living and working in this unique city.

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With more than 30 years’ experience in the whisky industry, Dr Rachel Barrie was the first female Scotch whisky Master Blender inducted into Whisky Magazine’s illustrious ‘Hall of Fame’.

Also known as the 'First Lady of Scotch', Rachel studied chemistry before landing a job as research scientist at the Scotch Whisky Research Institute.

She then moved into production at The Glenmorangie Company, becoming Master Blender in 2003.

During that time Rachel also managed the stocks for the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, before moving to Morrison Bowmore Distillers with Bowmore, Auchentoshan and Glen Garioch, and subsequently working with Laphroaig and Ardmore. 

Since 2017, Rachel has been Master Blender for Brown Forman’s Single Malt portfolio, comprising Glendronach, Benriach and Glenglassaugh – distilleries we previously explored on this podcast with global brand ambassador Stewart Buchanan in 2022.

I’m excited to share this fascinating interview with Rachel that I recorded when she was in Sydney recently.

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Established in 1884, the Melbourne Royal Wine Awards annually attracts around 2,500 entries from over 400 wineries from across the country.

The Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy is the pinnacle of the competition. It’s awarded to the best one or two year old red wine as blind tasted by the judges.

Last year, the winner was the 2021 Old Legend Grenache from Hentley Farm in the Barossa Valley.

It was another milestone in the ascendancy of Australian grenache, which is something I’ve discussed recently on the podcast with both with Max Allen and Jane Lopes.

Hentley Farm chief winemaker Andrew Quin joins us this episode with the trophy presentation for the 2023 Melbourne Royal Wine Awards coming up this Friday November 3.

Wolf Blass once said the Jimmy Watson was worth a million dollars to the winning producer, so I started by asking Andrew about the significance of last year’s prize to Hentley Farm.

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Renowned wine writer Huon Hooke previously appeared on the Drinks Adventures podcast way back in Season One, in an episode exploring Australians’ love affair with champagne.

He’s finally back for this full-length chat about The Real Review Wine Classification, which launched in 2022 aiming to highlight the greatest wines of Australia and New Zealand that have an outstanding track record of a decade or longer.

Huon and I discuss the fresh approach he’s taken to classifying wine versus other established frameworks; and how this helps bring emerging producers to the fore, as well as wine styles and regions that might be less fashionable, but are nevertheless extremely high quality.

Case in point, the wineries of Langhorne Creek in South Australia; Bleasdale, Lake Breeze and Bremerton. The latter of those three wineries slipped Huon’s mind during our conversation, and he contacted me afterwards to see if this omission could be addressed.

The Real Review was launched in 2016 to provide unbiased, independent reviews on wine.

I started by asking Huon whether the classification has always been on the founders’ agenda.

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Two Doctors is a whiskey company founded, as the name suggests, by Two Doctors; surgeon Jerry Schwartz and Professor John Rasko AO, a clinical hematologist, pathologist and scientist.

Professor Rasko is with us this episode to discuss his epic side hustle, which utilises the brewing equipment at Sydney Brewery’s production facility in the Hunter Valley, NSW.

The brewery and distillery are based at Rydges Resort Hunter Valley, one of several hotels owned by Jerry’s other business, Schwartz Family Company, which is the largest privately owned hotel group in Australia.

Jerry’s backing has empowered Two Doctors to take an uncompromising approach to whisky production focused on premium single barrel releases aged for a minimum of six years, mostly in barrels supplied by local Hunter Valley wineries.

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In this edition of the news on Drinks Adventures:

• Top Shelf declares pathway to profitability;
• Cape Byron campaigns for tax relief with Excise Strength Gin;
• Business booming at McLaren Vale winery, Oliver’s Taranga; and
• New lease on life for Orange, NSW cider maker Small Acres.

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Few Australian distillery launches in 2023 have been greeted with the excitement surrounding Waubs Harbour in Bicheno, Tasmania.

It’s easy to see why. The distillery’s striking location in a former oyster hatchery on the rugged Tassie coast promises a true maritime expression of Australian single malt whisky.

The founders bring with them some pretty impressive pedigree in both distilling and business generally.

Head distiller Rob Polmear was previously head of production at Lark Distillery, and head distiller at Overeem.

He’s banded together with our guests this episode – his brother Tim Polmear and Tim’s wife, Bec – who in 2015 successfully exited an e-commerce business, Flat Tummy Tea.

Since our conversation, Waubs Harbour has revealed the identity of its distributor, Proof & Company, which also represents brands including Never Never Gin, Ferrand Cognac, Plantation Rum and more.

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