By Derek Schlennstedt
Since its inception, St Ronans Cider has continued to grow in popularity across Australia and after winning awards at the Cider Australia National Awards on October 27 is undeniably qualified to take its place among the best ciders produced in the world.
From small beginnings in the Yarra Valley, St Ronans burst onto the scene with a gold medal for their Methode Traditionelle Pear Cider in both the 2012 and 2013 Australian Cider Awards.
In addition to these awards, winning the People’s Choice award in 2012 for the Methode Traditionelle Pear Cider cemented St Ronans place in the league of serious producers.
This year against what has been considered one of the strongest line-ups ever, St Ronans has continued their winning streak, being awarded the Best Traditional Cider and winning the the big one – the Best Australian Cider or Perry.
Chief Steward of the Cider Australia Awards, Nyall Condon, commented on the close competition and said it was amazing to see how far the awards had come in just a few years with a record 250 local and international entries (25 per cent more than last year) and a big step up in the number and grade of medals being awarded.
The St Ronans flagship cider, the Methode Traditionelle Heritage was the big winner on the night taking out both awards.
Troy Jones co-owner and cider maker at St Ronans said that the whole team was stoked with the result.
“Really stoked, when we first released our Methode Traditionelle pear we got the same sort of accolade at the very beginning with our pear,” he said.
“It’s nice to follow this up now with some fruit from our orchard and some heritage cider variety which is pretty unique and attributes to the quality we’re creating.”
With a focus on making ciders that are unique in Australia and produced from locally sourced fruit from their orchards, St Ronans offers something very special for your glass.
That something special can be clearly tasted and shown by their recent accolades. Troy said their secret ingredient was simply making ciders that they all enjoyed to drink.
“Stylistically we’re making stuff we like to drink – that’s the essence of it,” he said.
