Drew Henry
Drew Henry, a qualified geologist, spent the first 40 years of his working life in the mining and mineral exploration industry before buying an apple orchard at Harcourt in Victoria with wife Irene.
What was intended to be a small venture for their retirement has turned into one of Australia’s most successful boutique traditional cider makers.
The eponymous Henry of Harcourt now boasts an orchard with around 40 cider apple varieties and an enviable collection of awards for their range of blended and varietal ciders, all made traditionally.
According to Mr Henry many of the commonly available ciders in Australia at present are more properly categorised as alcopops than as genuine cider. Aware of the growing popularity of cider and the lack of quality products being made in Australia, Drew Henry is keen to share his knowledge with Australia’s next generation of traditional cider makers.
David Pickering
David Pickering planted his first cider apples in 1981 at Orange in NSW consisting of fifteen varieties that were then locally available. Several more were added in the following years. Following a 2004 holiday in France David became aware of the French cidre industry and began researching French cider varieties.
This culminated in an Apple and Pear Australia Ltd (an industry representative body) supported study tour to France and England to confirm the identity of additional cider varieties located across Australia. David had been working for NSW DPI (in cropping and agronomy) and on returning from that study tour became the DPI's cider contact.
David was instrumental in the establishment of Cider Australia and the Australian Cider Awards. He operates the CiderOz website (www.cideroz.com) and provides technical assistance to current and prospective cider apple growers.
Rob Pelletier
Rob, a qualified horticulturist with over 30 years experience in landscape construction, amenity horticultural services and continuing contributions to gardening education through radio, television, writing and teaching, farms at Glenview Park Farm near Beaufort in Victoria.
The property has included a nursery for at least two decades, first growing perennials for the nursery trade and then local provenance native plants for re-vegetation projects. It is now used to produce heirloom variety fruit trees and includes a collection of over 400 varieties of heritage and some modern fruit tree varieties.
Rob established Heritage Fruit Trees around 10 years ago to conserve heirloom fruit trees and make them accessible to the growing numbers of people interested in the tastes, genetics and rich histories of our wonderful fruit tree heritage.