DROMANA winemaker Garry Crittenden has started what could be the first plantation in Australia of the Spanish almond variety marcona.
Mr Crittenden said he came across the variety several years ago during a trip to Spain, where the short, round nuts are typically roasted, salted and served in bowls at tapas bars.
"I was very taken with the uniqueness of the almonds," he said. "They were quite different to anything I'd ever come across in Australia. They just taste so good."
On his return, Mr Crittenden vowed to plant some of the almonds, but was unable to find any fruit-tree growers or nurseries that stocked the trees.
Last year, he tracked down University of Adelaide plant breeder Michelle Wirthensohn, who had imported budwood a few years earlier, which was ready for release from quarantine and commercial sale by the Almond Board of Australia.
"So I got my hands on some and had 50 trees grafted (by an accredited propagator)," he said.
Mr Crittenden planted the trees last month and now faces a five-year wait until they produce their first useful crop.
The plan is to shell and roast the nuts for his own use.
"It won't be an industry," he said. "I've got a fruit-tree plantation here on my vineyard that has about 60 different types of fruit trees, some quite exotic.
"They're all things that will grow or thrive in a mediterranean-type climate: mulberries, pomegranates, persimmons.
"We've got a cellar door and restaurant here on-site and have a sideline in produce.
"We do olive oils, verjuice, make a vinocotto as well as dukkah and cugna, a quince-based condiment."
Mr Crittenden, who planted some of the first grape vines on the Mornington Peninsula, in 1982, and has since become recognised as one of the pioneers of alternative varieties, said he was "not at all bored with wine grapes".
He established the orchard to give himself something to do in his spare time after his son, Rollo, took over as Crittenden Estate's chief winemaker.
