There’s a saying in cooler climate zones like the Adelaide Hills: if you can grow apples well here, then grapes will also thrive. And, of course, vice versa.
It’s particularly apt in the Lenswood district, where apples, as well as pears, have been the horticultural heroes for more than a century.
Wine grapes are the Johnny come latelies, making their mark since the 1980s.
The Lenswood Cold Store Cooperative Society and its facilities are the landmark building of the area, home to a score of orchardists and the business now known more simply as Lenswood Apples.
Just up the hill from the Co-op is the Stafford family orchard run by Michael Stafford alongside his father.
They grow all the classics, as well as a Lenswood proprietary apple variety, the “Rockit”, mostly as premium eating fruit.
But tucked away within the orchard are five rows of apple trees with names that you won’t see in any supermarket: Kingston Black, Browns Apple, Dabinett, Yarlington Mill and Somerset Red Streak.
They do, however, have another destination, which is into the ciders and associated gins and brandy made by Michael and colleague Warwick Billings under the celebrated LOBO brand.
Michael oversees the growing.
Warwick, originally from the UK’s cider capital country of Somerset, runs the pressing and fermenting of a range of ciders, including serious traditional English styles to more mainstream, everyday drinks, a cloudy, an apple and pear blend and a mead.
The LOBO story goes back to 2007 when the duo set about making experimental ciders out of leftover orchard fruit.
A few years later they planted their five rows of special cider trees, grafting them onto old Sundowner apple tree trunks, and while they remain the secret ingredient in many of their big flavour and funkier drinks, the pair still use mostly Pink Ladies, with a dash of the cider apples, for their more commercial style which, they say, adds to its complexity.
Both remain essentially “craft” made, though their more unique ciders in larger 750ml bottles, The “LOBO Lenswulf,” and a 2018 vintage “LOBO Norma” are even further along in the craft-made style, Michael says.
The latter is bottle fermented, similarly to popular wine-style sparklings like Champagne and Pet Nats, but with lower alcohol levels and varying in varietal composition each year.
“They do age well,” Michael says.
“And it’s incredible with those that every bottle you open, it’s consistent in how good it is.”
They’re definitely specialty ciders, says Warwick.
“Something for the wine drinker who wants to drink something more ‘cidery’.”
The key is the unique varieties, each with specific characters that can range from bitter, sharp, bitter-sweet to sweet and with varying tannin levels and mouthfeels.
They tend to be mixed into a field blend – for flavour and balance, Warwick says – though the Kingston Blacks, considered the king of cider apples, occasionally finds its way to a single varietal outcome.
While modest in volume, the shift into cider and associated liquors like apple brandy and mixed fruit based gins has added a new dimension to the Lenswood district appellation, which has a long and treasured reputation for its eating fruit.
The Staffords have been growing apples since the early 1900s.
Michael’s grandfather, along with close to 40 other orchardists, was a founding member of the local Cooperative in the 1930s, now trading as Lenswood Apples into domestic and international markets.
It also incorporates controlled atmosphere storage, new technology packing facilities, and marketing and distribution services covering other fruits as well, such as cherries, pears and avocados.
Its member growers, now spread across three regions, including the Limestone Coast and the Riverland, produce half of the State’s apple crop – 20,000 tonnes of apples annually – all those we consumers love, including Fuji, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Royal Gala, Rosy Glow, Pink Lady and the newer proprietary named Rockit, Redlove and MiApple varieties.
While spreading its territorial wings, Lenswood remains the traditional apple home ground, with its climate of cold and wet winters and warm summers perfect for the best fruit.
Altitudes from between the high 300s to close to 600 metres above sea level is a good zone for the chill times needed for fruit set, and what Michael calls “really bad hail” is less likely as well.
He says the district’s fruit growing renown remains strong, enhanced also by its more recent association with premium wine growing.
“It certainly does have that reputation,” Warwick says.
“People associate Lenswood with apples, and now wine, certainly among aficiandos, and we’d like to continue to build on that.”
LOBO’s ciders and spirits are another plank in building that regional branding, he says.
“The whole business is healthier than ever, and I don’t think it’s going to go backwards from here.
“But there needs to be more appreciation and recognition of good cider.”
The use of a ‘100% Australian Grown Trust Mark’ on labels and packaging is a step towards that quality acceptance.
Also adding to a greater acceptance of Adelaide Hills Cider as a popular-premium drink has been a new generation of brands and outlets.
Adelaide Hills Cider based at Lot 100 near Nairne was a major player in driving local cider into the mainstream in 2010, among the first commercial fresh fruit ciders, yet seen as a craft style, popularising Hills produce and branding into pubs and restaurants around the country.
It has since been renamed more simply to “Hills Cider”, prioritising seasonal Hills eating apples while accessing fruit from interstate as well, blended into a range of drinks from Cloudy Apple, Sparkling, Non-Alcoholic, and Tropical Sours with Pineapple and Mango.
The fruit is juiced at Ashton Valley Fresh at Ashton, then fermented and bottled at Patritti in suburban Dover Gardens into the house style that operations manager Vanessa Altmann describes as “fresh, clean and crisp”.
“I call them New World Ciders,” she says.
Similarly, Hills winery Sidewood with its cellar door at Hahndorf and production facilities at Nairne also targets popular consumers with its Apple, Pear and Strawberry base bevvies, all made from fresh Adelaide Hills fruit.
Owner Owen Inglis notes there seems to be a bit of resurgence of interest in ciders.
Which is exactly what has occurred in the recent rise of Lenswood Cider Co and Peter and Tegan Burnett’s uniquely dedicated cellar door on their family farm surrounded by orchards on Swamp Road at Lenswood.
Celebrating everything cidery as well as Hills beers, wines and food (Thursday to Sunday) they produce an easy-going range in modern cans, and also serve by keg and tap such blends as straight apple and pear, as well as a spicy apple and ginger, and a subtly sweet apple and strawberry using a syrup from Beerenberg at Hahndorf.
While some of the fruit is sourced from their family orchard, the rest is from all over the Hills via the Ceravolo family’s Ashton Valley Fresh orchard and juicing business, before finishing at SixTwelve Brewing in suburban St Agnes.
Importantly, Lenswood Cider Co carries its place name loudly and proudly on its labels and venue branding.
“We’re really passionate about being local here in the cellar door,” Pete says.
The wines are from Hills producers, and the food is sourced from close by.
It all links into a sense of belonging to the region, he says.
“There’s definitely an awareness here in South Australia,” he says.
“People understand it’s like associating McLaren Vale with wine.
“They definitely associate Lenswood with apples.
“I suppose we’re putting a new twist on that with our ciders – it’s a bit of a new look and a new way of approaching it, and 99 times out of 100 people are surprised.
“They say this is not what I remember cider being like, and they’re really enjoying it.
“Younger drinkers also appreciate that it’s all made from fresh fruit and that our ciders are drier and a bit more sophisticated, for want of a better word, than the really horribly sweet ciders that were around in the old days, and still are more commercially popular.”
It’s an old-school drink now done in a more modern way, he says, reiterating what Michael and Warwick noted from their more traditional stance.
It’s places like Pete and Tegan’s, and Lot 100, and Sidewood with their venues incorporating Hills apples, pears and other fresh fruits that are the future of Lenswood and the culture of cider that has grown, naturally, out of the region.
