Artemis Wines and Distillery puts Southern Highlands on gin map

A multi-award winning distillery is sourcing the best local natural ingredients to create bespoke gins to meet the demand of the latest ‘it’ drink.

An award-winning distillery is using the best of the Southern Highlands to create handcrafted gins to meet the demand of the growing gin boom.

The family-run Artemis Wines and Distillery opened its doors in 1996 as one of the first wineries in the Southern Highlands. Artemis has been making wine for 26 years and distilling spirits for three years, which have garnered a bevy of medals already.

Artemis products won 11 awards at last year’s Australian Spirit Awards, highlighting the merit of quality products carefully curated with the best local and imported ingredients.

Head distiller Anton Balog said the Southern Highlands was the perfect place to create premium spirits because of its natural offerings.

Head distiller Anton Balog holding the new handcrafted 100 Souls gin range.

“The Southern Highlands has amazing spring water, which we use to blend our spirits,” he said.

“We’re very lucky to have a cellar door that’s easily accessible on the start of the wine trail and then we’ve got the most amazing spring water as well.”

The team at Artemis started making gin in 2018 using traditional methods with pot stills to create the spirit from selected parcels of their wine, instead of the standard grain base. Continuing their flair for innovation, Artemis recently released a new 100 Souls spirits range using a sugar cane base spirit.

According to Mr Balog, the grape eau de vie and cane sugar base cultivates an intricate palate structure which compliments the expression of the selected botanicals like juniper.

The 100 Souls range of spirits is crafted with the finest ingredients from near and far. In the spirit of exploration and pursuit of new flavours, the 100 Souls name pays homage “to the many seafarers and spice traders who once sought rare botanicals from around the globe“.

100 Souls Distillery Pink Gin.

100 Souls Distillery Hinterland Gin.

The new 100 Souls range includes limited edition Hinterland Gin and Pink Gin blends, both made with a sugar case base sourced from northern NSW and Queensland and distilled with Southern Highlands spring water.

The Pink Gin contains 12 different botanicals, including Damascus rose petals and hibiscus, while the Hinterland Gin is a traditional gin with focus on Himalayan juniper, Australian mandarin and Szechuan pepper.

“It’s about sourcing the best produce from all around the world,” Mr Balog said.

The range is distinguished by the bespoke glass bottle, which is hand labelled by the Artemis team.

Mr Balog acknowledged there has been a resurgence of interest in gin, which he believes is due to people developing a “more educated palate” for the spirit.

Bespoke 100 Souls bottles created for the Artemis Wines and Distillery range.

“We are seeing an increasing number of customers wanting to explore handcrafted spirits when visiting our cellar door,” he said.

“It’s the time for gin.”

According to Endeavour Group, which owns national liquor stores Dan Murphy’s and BWS, sales of Australian craft gins have increased by more than 50 per cent in the past year. Mr Balog said the focus on supporting local businesses and consuming local products has helped to augment the gin boom in Australia.

“There’s always been a few great distilleries but we were competing against the imports,” he said.

The head distiller said the push to buy local “has been a big part” of the success of Artemis Wines and Distillery’s spirits. During the difficult drought and fires, which badly affected vineyards across the country,

Artemis wines and distillery in the Southern Highlands are crafting bespoke gin to meet the homegrown gin boom.

Mr Balog said creating spirits has been a great way to utilise smoke-affected grapes and to create a premium range without the stress of being weather dependent.

The lovingly handcrafted gins can be sampled at the Artemis cellar door, which has also won a number of awards. The building is made of recycled redgum and exudes “rustic Australian elegance” that is sympathetic with the surrounding bushland.

At the moment, Artemis is only able to process online orders due to the Covid lockdown, but Mr Balog said the team were very excited about resuming service in time for summer’s domestic tourists.