How one distiller ended up creating a whole category of gin

We make a lot of good booze in Australia – that much is evident. But while France has its brandy, Scotland has its whisky and Jamaica has its rum, there is no one spirit synonymous with Australia. At least there wasn’t, until one fateful day in 2015 when Four Pillars’ Cam MacKenzie decided to steep some shiraz grapes in gin.

“It's a story about where we’re from. Four Pillars got its start at Rob Dolan Wine, in a shed at the back of the winery,” says Four Pillars Creative Director Nick Tesar. “One Friday afternoon, there was a parcel of shiraz grapes leftover that hadn’t been assigned to anything, and everyone else had gone home but Cam was still tinkering. Instead of letting them sit out and go to waste, he poured a large amount of gin over the top of them, at high proof, and that’s how Bloody Shiraz was born.” 

The now iconic name came from co-founder Stuart Gregor’s wife – he loved the result of his business partner’s tinkering, but was stressing about what to call it and how to sell it, given that it was something that had never existed before. “Oh shut up Stu,” his wife Sally said, “it's just a bloody shiraz gin.” How very Australian. 

Fruit gins have existed for centuries, but there hadn’t been much innovation in the category despite the booming interest in gin generally. While most bars would have one bottle of sloe gin to make the odd Charlie Chaplin, it wasn’t seen as a product with broad consumer interest. As the fervent response to the first release of Bloody Shiraz showed, this apathy did not carry to wine gins. “Sloe berries are related to plums, and they have insanely high acid, so they always add a lot of sugar to them when making a gin, to mask the acidity,” says Nick. “We wanted to showcase what’s around us, and grapes have their own natural sugars but also a tannin structure that adds character and hides some of the sugar.

“The appeal lies in the colour, the singularity of the flavour, the tannin and that element of innovation. It's a unique story that we can tell to the rest of the world. People are not familiar with it, and it's a distinctive offering that’s true to the Australian style of production and the way we work with flavour in general. We acknowledge traditions, but we have different flavours to work with here and being such a young industry, we’re not so caught up with ‘it has to be done this way’. Why can’t it be done another way? Have a crack!”

Four Pillars laid the groundwork for an explosion in wine gins. When I first started judging at the Australian Distilled Spirits Awards five years ago, there were a couple of examples in the Fruit Gin category – now it has been renamed to Fruit or Grape/Wine Gin, and is one of the most hotly contested trophies with 45 entries this year, the majority of which are wine gins (for context, there were 62 entries in London Dry). The reigning champion is Naught Distilling’s Sangiovese gin. 

“I believe wine gin has taken off because of the simplicity in product but complexity in flavour. Aussies are known for innovation, and in this particular instance having such an amazing wine industry at our fingertips, it makes sense for an emerging distilling industry to start experimenting with different fruits,” says Naught owner and distiller Chris Cameron. “Many distilleries in Australia are in and around wine making regions, in fact many distillers I know are from the wine industry in some capacity, so it was just a matter of time before the two worlds collided. And thankfully they did because what an awesome style of gin to bring to the world.” 

“Sangiovese is one of my favourite grape varieties so it made sense that I would try to craft my own version that ticked the boxes I prefer. I wanted a gin that was still gin forward, I wanted to pick up a glass and smell juniper, citrus and warming spice while also showcasing ripe red fruit. Thankfully I had a connection at a winery and secured 15 kilos of Sangiovese grapes and started my own fruit gin journey!”

For bartenders it’s a no brainer – how could you not love a spirit that builds on the juniper backbone we all love in drinks, but with added complexity, spice, fruit and texture? From my own experience, Bloody Shiraz is one of the most called for products by brand name across the bar, and any cocktail that uses a wine gin is a guaranteed best seller. Australia is a nation of wine drinkers, and even those that would normally eschew gin are easily brought on board at the mention of a grape varietal they know. “Because of the storytelling piece, where you can talk about the terroir of the grapes, people understand the flavour profile. They understand, but it's different at the same time – they’re curious, but they’re not out of their depth,” explains Nick.

I recently hosted a group of spirits buyers from South East Asia as part of an initiative by Food + Drink Victoria. We visited both Four Pillars and Naught, amongst many other distilleries, and in a week filled with tastings, it was the wine gins that elicited the most enthusiasm. These are products that tell a story, a uniquely Australian one, and it’s stories that sell products.

It does feel as though the Australian distilling industry is having a coming of age moment. We’re no longer just copying our older siblings overseas, but creating our own identity and voice. We’re seeing products being made from plants that are more suited to the Australian climate and that celebrate our unique botanicals and terroir. It seems to me that we have a leftover parcel of shiraz grapes and a large amount of gin to thank, in part, for that.

Around the Bars

Trigger Warning: Abuse, Sexual Assault and Related

It has been a very difficult week for the Australian hospitality industry. I want to personally express my deep respect for all of the women who have come forward with their stories, and deep sorrow that you were put in this position in the first place. I understand my responsibility as a voice within the industry, and commit to using it to uplift those that deserve it. 

I’ve made mistakes from a place of ignorance in the past by spotlighting people who did not deserve to be, and I commit to doing my utmost moving forward to make sure that I don’t repeat this with anyone featured in my writing. 

I am open to any feedback, questions or concerns that anyone may have – please feel free to contact me at behindthebarchannel@gmail.com any time, about anything.

Resources for those that need support, or are looking to better educate themselves to be part of the solution going forward are available through @womenandrevolution @teachusconsent @thesurvivorhub to name a few. 

I believe and stand with victims and will do everything in my power to make this a better industry moving forward.

• Now is the time to be thinking about which businesses we support. I had the pleasure of visiting Big Esso from Mabu Mabu for the first time last week, and it won’t be the last. It is, in their own words ‘a proud 100% indigenous owned, women-led and LGBTQIA+ business’. Our cocktail was, coincidentally, using Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz Gin and it was delicious, and their rainforest fruit damper is a must try.
• I have a new ‘bartenders’ band-aid’ ingredient: when curating drinks for international visitors to showcase the Victorian spirits industry, I discovered Bass & Flinders’ Mistelle. I already knew that I loved their brandy, so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but the nuance of honey sweetness and florals from fresh grape juice and brandy is just sublime. Owner and head distiller Holly Klintworth is also the president of the Australian Distillers Association, and a general genius. If you haven’t tried her products yet, get into them.