Like many distilleries, Envy Distilling has offered customers some delicious gin options, while also working on a longer-term strategy for aged spirits. In our case, we are working to introduce fine aged brandy to our range, and we are well underway. In this post, we'll introduce you to our first efforts and what we expect from them.
Why Brandy?
The Australian palate for craft gin has developed so well that most customers are familiar with the spirit, and willing to try it almost anywhere. To some degree, Australian whisky (aged spirit derived from fermented grains) has earned a solid following too. But brandy (aged spirit derived from fermented fruit) is still "something my grandma did", or else familiar only in cocktails or Xmas cooking. We love a challenge, and introducing something different is part of the attraction for us. We also aim to showcase the brilliant Heathcote grapes, winemakers and climate in a new expression as aged brandy. We expect this to be as different and distinctive as our region's wines are, and as Cognac is for its particular brandy style.
French Oak - Heathcote Wines, made for distilling
Our first 2 casks (225L barriques) are French oak, which is a tighter wood grain and will age relatively slowly compared to American oak (see below). One cask had previously held Armagnac, a close relative of Cognac, and the other had Pineau-de-Charentes Blanc, which would be similar to a sweet white sherry. These prior spirits should lend some great flavours into our new Heathcote spirit.
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Our grape spirit started life as a new shiraz wine, made at Humis Vineyard specifically for our distillery. This means the young wine had not been aged in any way (oak or steel), and no sulphur had been used for preserving the wine.
We expect to age these for 4 years each, at minimum, so should be due for bottling consideration around November 2027 and May 2028, respectively. We'll see how they go!
American Oak - Heathcote Wines, recovered and re-used
Our next 2 casks (200L & 60L) are American oak, which is a more open-grained wood and will promote slightly faster aging than French oak. Our larger cask had initially held American Bourbon, which is a common industry source of 2nd-hand barrels. US rules dictate that bourbon can only be aged in NEW oak, and so their used barrels find their way all over the world, such as the main barrel types used by many Scotch whisky producers such as Talisker, Chivas, Johnny Walker, etc. This cask had then subsequently been used for maturing Rum - and smelt delicious before we even started!
This 200L cask now holds spirit made from several combined varieties of Munari's wines, leftover at the end of their wine maturation processes for the 2024 vintage. Wineries keep their maturing barrels topped-up with fresh wine kept in variable capacity steel tanks, as the wine barrels slowly lose a little volume over the 4-12 month maturation period. We expect this to age nicely, perhaps with bottle consideration in 3-years' time, around November 2027.
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The smaller 60L cask had previously held American Bourbon, and then subsequently Maple Syrup! Unfortunately, the lovely maple syrup smells weren't obvious by the time we got this one, but we hope it will still be embedded within the woodgrain and add a lovely dimension or our spirit. The spirit used for this cask was derived from a 2018 vintage of Parson's Gully "Something Frank" cabernet franc wine, already bottled, and required uncorking and decanting 240 bottles! A training exercise for later efforts (see later section below).
Even after only 2 months, it is showing great potential for a beautiful and distinctive brandy. Due to the cask's smaller size and open grain, we might consider bottling in around 3 years, due October 2027 or so.
American Oak - Recovery of bottled wines, beyond their selling age
Our most recent cask is another 200L American oak, previously holding Bourbon, and made by Speyside Cooperage - showing the clear relationship between the US bourbon and Scottish whisky industries.
The wines used for this batch were sourced from several wine importers and exporters, who had (for various reasons) stocks of bottled wine that had not sold, and been stored beyond their recommended selling age. These bottles ranged in age from 2016 to 2020 vintages, and were a mixture of 8 individual styles - including chardonnay, rosé, pinot noir, cabernet, and others - from Mornington Peninsula, Heathcote, and France! In all cases, these wines were being scheduled for disposal or destruction, and we took the opportunity to offer the producers an alternative "up-cycling" of this situation, and avoid creating wine industry waste. Due to the numerous wines, regions and producers involved, we figured "Legion" was the perfect name to reflect the origins of this spirit.
All bottles had been sealed with various combinations of screw-cap, cork, foil and wax! It took 1,561 individual bottles to create this single cask, all of which Nathan had to laboriously uncork/unscrew, decant, and then recycle all packaging. See below for the small unbottling station - no automation here!
It required a lot of small sprints of effort, but worth it knowing that it connected so strongly with our focus on sustainability and minimising environmental impact, for ourselves as well as others.
Even though these wines were not originally intended for distilling, and used sulphur in their preserving process, the spirit has turned out very well and we've put a few samples of Eau-de-vie (unaged grape spirit) aside, under our informal "Envy X" label, for visitors to try. We expect this spirit to age over a 4-year period, and will be due for bottling consideration around February 2029.
What Next?
We've already been approached by a few more wine producers, with more wine "up-cycling" opportunities. We have 4 more pallets of wine bottles due for distilling towards the end of 2025, potentially starting around November and continuing through to February 2026. We also have potential for some other casks and wines coming down the pipe. All of which is a little bit of work, but it all supports our intention of why we established our distillery in Heathcote in the first place, and made sustainability a core value of our business! We're excited to see how these efforts all translate into a range of interesting and unique brandies, and talking to our customers and visitors about what they are, and where they have come from.
We are always keen to hear your thoughts and questions, to please feel free to reach out to us, or drop in at the distillery door.