The Barossa is famous for its vines and wineries –
where do orchardists come into the picture?
Regionally, the Barossa was once a huge producer
of fruit – tinned, bottled and fresh – shipped out by
the tonne for both the import and domestic markets.
When the German and English settlers arrived, they
established all these mixed farms across the floor of
the Valley and into the hills up and around Angaston,
growing all sorts of premium-quality fruit. Then in
the 1980s, it became economically unviable to
produce and sell dried fruit locally. So, the growers
pushed their fruit trees out and planted grapevines
instead. Historically, the Barossa has this really
strong fruit-growing story; grapes were just one of
the fruits grown.

Can you tell us about the heritage of Trevallie Orchard
and its connection to Yalumba?
Trevallie is one of the few commercial orchards still
in operation in the Barossa Valley. The orchard itself
dates right back to European settlement when Samuel
Smith – a fruit grower and Robert Hill-Smith’s greatgreat-
grandfather – established Yalumba, originally
producing fresh, canned and dried fruit, as well as
grapes. While the Hill-Smith family’s ownership of the
orchard has a strong regional significance, it’s also full
circle for their family to come back to growing fruit in
the same way their ancestors did.

So what fruits are cultivated here today?
About eighty percent of the orchard is dedicated to
apricots, which are cut and dried using traditional
methods. They ripen around Christmas time, so the
orchard is a hive of activity from late November into
January, with all the fruit out in the sun on the drying
green. We also produce dried pears in autumn, with
fresh apples and pears available through the year.
In winter, the orchard is dormant – all the trees
have lost their leaves – which is when we’ll do the
maintenance jobs. Come spring, the blossoms are out
and the cycle starts again.

What are the greatest demands in producing a
seasonal product?
Every year there’s always something to manage and
mitigate in order to produce premium quality fruit
under changeable conditions. But one of the biggest
challenges we face as a society, and also as an orchard,
is that disconnection from our food source that people
feel. That we don’t know what it takes to produce that
apricot, or that apple. There’s the expectation that fruit
should be cheap, and look perfect and shiny, and be
available all year round. The convenience of supermarkets
is really important – and not everyone’s lucky enough to
have a heritage orchard on their doorstep – so how
do we produce something authentic that people will
resonate with?