David Pickering learnt many lessons about apple cider while living in England during the 1970s.
Upon his return to New South Wales, he was shocked to learn that few makers used cider-specific apple varieties and instead relied on the popular Pink Lady, Granny Smith or Gala apples not best suited for the process.
The Australian cider industry has long relied on table apples or imported juice concentrate to create their popular products, but there is momentum to change that.
Mr Pickering has been on a decades-long search to find European apple species that are not particularly palatable to eat, but, because of their balance between acidity and sugar, are perfect to create the alcoholic drink.
As a hobbyist, Mr Pickering now hosts 34 types of apple trees that he found all over Australia on his property in Central West NSW, outside of Orange.
About half of those originate from England and the other half are from France.
Keeping DNA safe
But, worrying that his collection could one day be lost when he eventually passes away, Mr Pickering has teamed up with the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) to duplicate it at its nearby research station.
"There's no one-stop shop to go and get the cider varieties," he said.
The DPI Temperate Fruits team began growing the apple trees in 2019 and is now ready to begin a breeding program.
Budwood cuttings are available for those who wish to establish them in a bid to get more cider manufacturers using locally grown products.
A changing market
Sales of cider have boomed across Australia in recent years.
But Mr Pickering says as little as 8 per cent of the product bottled here comes from cider-specific trees.
He would like to see that number up to about 30 per cent.
"It's not going to happen quickly but it will happen gradually," Mr Pickering said.
"There's a lot more interest nowadays in the cider varieties because it's a point of difference."
He describes the Australian cider landscape as a vastly different environment from Europe where the big industrial producers use cider trees.
It is a craft much like winemaking.
"When [the apple] is ripe you have to crush it, press it, and get the juice and make the cider," Mr Pickering said.
"You can't fool around and make it six months later."
But it can take about five years to harvest a crop, making it difficult to convince cider producers to make the jump from table apples.
Growing trees to grow businesses
NSW DPI horticulturalist Aphrika Gregson has been packaging up cuttings and posting them to producers across Australia.
It has taken three years to get to this point and Ms Gregson says there has been a lot of demand.
"When you use a cider apple you can introduce more interesting flavour profiles," she said.
"It just makes for a more interesting cider."
The DPI's cider apple block will ultimately become a demonstration site for how they crop and grow and as a collection point.
