Family believes popularity of fruit brandies will soar

Tobi (left) and Michael Deinlein often hold 'pretty awesome' family debates about the business. Picture / Alan Gibson

The Deinlein family believe it is only a matter of time before New Zealanders take to European-style fruit brandies like they have taken to wine.

"It's a natural progression, the next step in the culinary evolution of New Zealand," says Tobi Deinlein.

Tobi, 29, father Michael and mother Irmengard produce a range of 13 fruit brandies and liquors, made with spring water and mostly organic fruit, at their distillery in Te Puna, near Tauranga.

Growth in domestic sales of 30-40 per cent a year since the German family opened Distillerie Deinlein in 2001 suggests the local market could in fact be developing a taste for the potent drinks Europeans consume as digestives after meals.

The distillery can produce 30,000 half-litre bottles and 30,000 100ml bottles a year.

The products, which come in flavours including kiwifruit (green, gold and kiwiberry), feijoa, tamarillo and the more traditional apple and pear, sell in more than 100 stores nationwide.

Small volumes are exported to Japan and Germany and the family's goal is to increase exports.

In Europe, that means competing against distillers that have been in business for generations and complying with strict regulations governing fruit brandies and liquors that do not exist in New Zealand.

However, from the outset the Deinleins decided to make all their products to European Union standards.

They have tried to distinguish themselves in the export market by using organic fruit and providing a distinctly New Zealand touch, with some bottles featuring strips of paua shell.

The kiwifruit liquors are infused with sprinkles of 23-carat gold leaf.

The paua and gold leaf have proved a hit, particularly in Japan, despite the family's fears of the products looking kitsch, particularly to the local market.

But Smith & Caugheys in Auckland placed an order immediately after tastings organised by Irmengard.

Kirkcaldie & Stains in Wellington, Ballantynes in Christchurch and Regency Duty Free have also followed suit.

Bay of Plenty branches of corporates such as KPMG and ANZ Bank have snapped up 100ml bottles with custom labels as gifts for clients and staff.

Distillerie Deinlein's brandies follow the European method of producing clear spirits from fermented ripe fruit or fruit infused in alcohol.

The French call these brandies eau de vie, meaning water of life; the Germans call them schnapps.

But the Deinleins feared the term schnapps might conjure up images of sickly sweet drinks to New Zealanders, whereas traditional schnapps is not sweet - hence their decision to use the word "brandy".

Tobi said the family's ability to work together as a team helped with such decisions.

"We have some pretty awesome debates and I think we're stronger for it," he said.

As a family, they are also willing to pour their energy, seven days a week, into the distillery, which is the culmination of a dream they had since emigrating to New Zealand in 1981.

Irmengard's great-great uncle was a distiller in Bavaria, southern Germany, and she wanted to carry on the tradition.

The dream became closer to reality when the family bought the Te Puna property in 1996.

Michael, a timber engineer by trade, returned to Germany in early 2001 for an intensive month-long course on distilling.

Distillerie Deinlein produced its first bottles in October the same year with a custom-made Arnold Holstein still imported from Germany.

The distilling process, which requires two tonnes of fruit per batch, took some experimentation to get right.

Michael battled with kiwifruit, which he said produced a silage taste before he got the process right.

Tobi joked that being German - that is, "meticulous and very clean" - was also crucial to his father's success.

Most of the literature on distilling is in German, putting Michael's skills in demand in this part of the world.

An Australian polytechnic asked him to help set up a distilling course.

The request confirms the family's belief that pretty soon their "water of life" will be as common as wine Downunder.

Distillerie Deinlein

Distillation

* It takes two tonnes of fruit to fill the still.
* Each batch takes three hours to produce 150 litres of alcohol.
* 100kg of apples produce 5 litres of usable alcohol.
* 100kg of pears produce 3.5 litres.

Export prices

* 0.5-litre bottle fruit liqueur (25-26% alcohol): retail price recommended 39.90 ($67.80).
* 0.5-litre fruit brandy (42% alcohol): recommended retail price 49.90 ($84.76).