Australian Cider Awards is back on track!

8 Sep 2022

Entries to the 2022 Australian Cider Awards opened today as national industry body Cider Australia celebrated a return to its usual Spring judging schedule.

Open to local and imported ciders, speciality ciders as well as apple & pear spirits available for sale in Australia, the Awards is Australia’s largest and most prestigious cider competition with 29 classes and 11 trophies.

President of Cider Australia and chair of the competition organising team, Warwick Billings, said the organisation is anticipating entry numbers to rebound to record levels after a disrupted few years for the industry.

“This year’s guest international judge is French cidrologue and cider consultant Yann Gilles who will bring a wealth of experience, expertise and his international perspective to the world-class judging panel”, said Warwick.

“Yann will also travel to visit producers in several cider regions during his time in Australia and we are confident he will not only inspire but be inspired by the Australian craft cider community”.

Enter the 2022 Australian Cider Awards online via this link.

Registrations close on Friday 14 October with the results to be announced on Friday 18 November at a gala dinner at Lot 100 in the Adelaide Hills (tickets are available now via Eventbrite).

FULL DETAILS ON AWARD CLASSES AND RULES CAN BE FOUND HERE.

2022 Australian Cider Awards – Key dates

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Media enquiries

Contact Cider Australia executive officer Jane Anderson on 0434 559 759 or office@cideraustralia.org.au or visit www.cideraustralia.org.au.

About Cider Australia 

Cider Australia is an independent, not-for-profit organisation funded by cider businesses and sponsors, established in 2012. It aims to build a sustainable cider category by undertaking activities that improve the quality of ciders produced and marketed in Australia. The organisation represents the interests of the cider industry to policy makers, calling for regulations and policies that support a diverse and evolving cider industry, and runs the national cider conference AusCider and the Australian Cider Awards.

About the Awards

The 2022 Australian Cider Awards will be held in Spring 2022. The Awards is the largest cider competition in Australia and is leading the standardisation and improvement of cider judging across Australia. Judging of the 2022 Awards will be held on 7-8 November 2022 at the William Angliss Institute in Melbourne. The panel comprises 7 full judges and 4 associates and brings expertise from across the alcoholic beverage industry including:

• chair Sebastian Crowther (Real Wines)
• international guest Yann Gilles (Malus & Vitis, France)
• Nyall Condon (Flying Brick Cider Co)
• Lucy Maddox (Forest Dweller Wines)
• Vanessa Altmann (Mighty Craft)
• Lisa Cardelli (Terroir Selections)
• Dr Soumi Paul Mukhopadhyay (NSW Department of Primary Industries)

Yann Gilles – Biography

Yann Gilles is a cidermaking and distilling consultant and Founder of cider making consultancy Malus & Vitis. Born in Normandy, Yann’s grandparents made cider on their farm and he now has 25 years’ experience working in the cider sector. Yann launched his own consultancy in 2020 where he partners with cider producers to create apple juice, ciders, perries and spirits using a range of methods. Prior to this, Yann was scientific director at the French R&D cider institute (www.ifpc.eu) for 10 years, and before that he worked for more than a decade at Chambre d’Agriculture de Normandie (France’s main professional organisation for agriculture), consulting to 50 cideries and leading a team of oenologists working on cider.

Yann holds an engineering degree in agriculture and food industry from Ecole Supérieure d’Agriculture in Angers and a diploma of oenology from Institut Universitaire de la Vigne et du Vin Jules Guyot in Burgundy.