Fairview Orchard co-owner Jered Tate, has launched Up a Tree Distillery offering a range of fruit-based schnapps and liqueurs created from fruit grown on their orchards.
Arriving in the Teviot Valley in 2015 with partner Jodi Gillam-Taylor and a city boy’s dream of growing fruit and vegetables they bought a 3ha cherry orchard across the road from Fairview Orchard, he said.
In Auckland, where he managed tyre shops, he had turned all the lawns on his 800sqm section into vegetable gardens which inspired their move south.
People resented having to buy tyres but enjoyed buying fruit and vegetables, he said.
"I wanted to own a shop and sell produce of all types."
Two years ago when the Fairview Orchard owners decided to focus on cherries and sell the rest of the business Mr Tate leapt at the chance to expand.
Apricots were Fairview’s biggest crop and the first season was challenging, he said.
"It was so hot we couldn’t get them off quick enough."
There were many lessons learned that year and finding a use for waste fruit was a top priority, he said.
Enter another of Mr Tate’s passions — distilling.
"My biggest problem is I can’t do just one thing," he said with a laugh.
Serious work on the distilling project began in the winter of 2020. With the arrival of Covid and lockdowns he decided it was time to take action.
He knew having large volumes of fruit to move during lockdowns could spell financial disaster. Turning the fruit into alcohol took time but the process used fruit that would have been wasted, Mr Tate said.
They knew selling alcohol at their fruit shop would involve a complex licensing process but they now offered tastings on site.
Starting with schnapps, inspired by the plum-based slivovitz enjoyed by Czech backpackers who worked for him, the range now included liqueurs and a single barrel of whisky.
"I desperately want to make whisky and bourbon but I own an orchard."
However, Fairview Orchard is on the market and the family have bought 10ha further down the road.
A bigger facility is planned for the block where the focus will be on expanding their range and distilling what they grow, Mr Tate said.
