Chris Shanahan: Adelaide Hills turns to cider

In 2010 Steve Dorman and Tobias Kline joined the fast-growing cider industry, sourcing apples and pears from the Adelaide Hills region.

Dorman, a winemaker, says he employs basic winemaking concepts for the ciders – making batches from different apple varieties, picked at different stages of ripeness, then blending to achieve balance between acidity and fruit flavour.

He says the apples and pears come only from the Adelaide Hills and the ciders are made without sugar or flavour additions.

His Hybrid Series combines Adelaide Hills cider with other Australian ingredients – for example, the apple and Queensland ginger cider below and for summer, co-fermented apple and Queensland mango.

A love delicate, dry pear cider ($16.99 330ml 6-pack) and the two ciders reviewed today are outstanding. They’re available at Jim Murphys, Local Liquor Hughes and Narrabundah and Ainslie Cellars, with cider on tap at Little Brussels, Kingston.

The Hills Cider Company Apple Cider 330ml 6-pack $16.99
How refreshing – a dry cider tasting of apples. They’re grown in the Adelaide Hills and deliver a lively, pale-lemon coloured cider with a pleasantly tart acidity accentuating the pure apple flavour – a sort of green apple acidity with ripe apple flavour. The finish is dry and clean, begging another mouthful.

The Hills Cider Company Hybrid Series Apple and Ginger Cider 750ml $15–$20
The hybrid series pairs Adelaide Hills fruit with other ingredients, in this instance fresh ginger from Queensland. The ginger, added during the fermentation, pleasantly dominates the aroma, but on the palate the apple flavour and tartness harmonise nicely with the pungent ginger, leaving a fresh, clean, dry apple-like aftertaste.