Lumen Winter 2016 - Flipbook - Page 26
Gin maker shows winning spirit
W
ith an interest in science but a
desire to work outdoors rather
than in a lab, Sacha La Forgia
decided that studying winemaking would
provide the best career path to satisfy
both interests.
Graduating from the University of
Adelaide in 2011, Sacha didn’t wait until
finishing his studies to hit the vineyards.
During his degree he did five vintages in
Australia and overseas and followed this
up with two years of travel, working on
another seven vintages.
While in Italy he met Bepi Tosolini, the
owner of a grappa distillery in Friuli, who
inspired him to start his own business.
Sacha realised that the small-batch ginmaking industry was on the verge of taking
off and jumped in with both feet, launching
the Adelaide Hills Distillery in 2014.
He’s already seen some remarkable
success in the short time he’s been
in business, with three products – the
78 Degrees Gin, a companion orange
bitters and a white-spiced rum – winning
gold, silver and bronze at the recent San
Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Sacha is grateful to have his formal
education behind him and says that
building his technical palate through
tastings while at university was one of the
most important skills for his career.
“Having knowledge about flavour
chemistry and how molecules interact in
the bottle has been really beneficial – it
helps me make intelligent decisions,”
Sacha says. “I’m able to technically look
at flavours and aromas and recognise
when something is not quite right.”
Sacha has also called upon his university
contacts to help him through difficult times.
One of these is his former lecturer,
Associate Professor Graham Jones, who
helped Sacha to analyse and problem
solve a technical issue he encountered at
the distillery.
“It was great to be able to call upon his
expertise, otherwise I would’ve lost all my
hair,” he laughs.
Sacha is now looking forward to
expanding his repertoire into whiskey and
has teamed with other local small-batch
producers – the Hills Cider Company and
Mismatch Brewing – to launch a fullproduction facility to house cellar doors
for the three craft beverages.
Opening in early 2017, the luxury
beverage hub will be the first of its kind in
Australia, offering local hospitality and an
educational experience where visitors can
learn about making gin, beer and cider.
Winemaker makes switch to cider
A
fter growing up on a farm in South
Australia’s Barossa Valley and
doing work experience at the worldrenowned Henschke Winery, Steve Dorman
was destined to forge a career in wine.
That was until he transferred his learnings
to making cider – an industry where he now
leads the way. In 2010 Steve and business
partner Tobias Kline launched the Hills Cider
Company which is the largest privatelyowned cider company in the country.
Steve was among the first students
to study oenology and viticulture at the
University of Adelaide’s Waite campus after
It’s so highly
recognised that you
can walk into any wine
region in the world and
tell them you’ve got a
University of Adelaide
degree and they welcome
you with open arms.
24 Lumen | Winter 2016
the course was transferred from Roseworthy.
He and his classmates enjoyed the
benefit of Waite’s new state-of-the-art
facilities, a scaled winery and vineyards.
Steve says it was a privilege to be among
the first to use the site and meet others from
around the globe who had been attracted
to study the world-renowned degree.
After graduating, Steve did vintages in
Australia and Italy, returning to manage
the Australasian wine and beverage
division for Orica before moving into the
wine trading business. It was during a trip
to Europe that he experimented with fruit
wine and witnessed the ‘cider explosion’.
He returned to Adelaide to discover a
distinct lack of local quality ciders and set
about making the real product from 100
per cent fresh Adelaide Hills apples.
Today the Hills Cider Company not only
produces multi-award winning ciders but
has contributed to the rejuvenation of
many local orchards.
“Growing up on a farm, I’ve seen the
perils of farming with the good and the
bad years so being able to now support a
whole industry in the Adelaide Hills is very
rewarding,” he says.
“In the last 12 months we’ve had three
growers come back to orchards they
walked away from because they hadn’t
thought it was commercially viable.”
Steve now buys 15 per cent of all fruit
grown in the Hills, has 13 sales staff and
indirectly employs around 65 people. His
products are sold all over the world, including
the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, New
Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Japan.
Steve is so committed to the ‘support
local, drink local’ ethos that he’s joining
forces with the Adelaide Hill’s Distillery
and Mismatch Brewing on a new Adelaide
Hills beverage hub (see Gin maker shows
winning spirit).
