Meet the Barossa’s master cooper

It’s a Monday morning and the sound of belly laughter spills from the open doorway of Seppeltsfield Wines’ cooperage. Surrounded by antiquated hand tools, jocularity and the unmistakable smell of caramalised sugars coaxed from yielding timber, master cooper Andrew Young is in his Happy Place.

Master Cooper Andrew Young

It’s a tableau that dates back to the nineteenth century when Barossa pioneers laboured to satisfy a burgeoning wine industry.

Today, it is the New World of whisky production that is driving market demand and with it, Andrew’s plans for an early retirement.

Not that he’s complaining.

“I remember wanting to go three days a week, slow down and phase into a retirement plan but with all these opportunities it’s hard to describe how exciting it is,” Andrew says.

Fresh off a trip across the Bass Strait to negotiate new domestic whisky contracts with Lark Distillery and Redlands Estate – and fulfill a lifelong ambition to sail a maxi yacht – Andrew is now looking across the Pacific.

“We’re no longer just the little old Barossa Valley – we have to think on a global scale and recognise the niche industries,” he says.

“There’s a huge push worldwide for anything that is quality, handmade – and when I say handmade, it has to be genuinely handmade.”

The barrels that are literally rolled out of the winery workshop certainly fit the brief; Andrew has very intentionally passed over mass production in favour of hand tool cooperage.

“We still sharpen our tools on the whetstone and finish on the oilstone,” Andrew says.

“Some of mine are date-stamped from the 1900s and they are well worn, but they mean everything to me.

“In this current era in Australia of losing manufacturing, we are more determined than ever to retain the skills we have been taught, because we feel there’s real value in that.

“I’m still using the skills I was taught during my apprenticeship and upholding the honour and respect of the trade and the old traditional ways.”

While precision is his other tool of the trade – after all, you can tell a good cooper by the size of his belly – Andrew realises Lady Luck has dealt him a fortuitous hand.

Andrew toasting the inside of a barrel.

“I was at Penfolds for 34 superb years and as one door closed, another opened,” says Andrew.

“One of the best opportunities I ever had when a guy by the name of Warren Randall turned up.

“People say he is a dreamer – I say he’s a strategist. If you could steal some of his enthusiasm and bottle it, you’d be a rich man.”

Randall’s single-minded ambition to recreate Seppeltsfield as a bespoke wine and food destination is well-documented, and the execution of his plan has paid amazing dividends for Andrew.

Trade channels are opening to Hong Kong, China and India courtesy of “high net worth individuals” seeking the prestige of high-end Australian handcrafted barrels.

Andrew is currently the only cooper in the world afforded entry into Chaine de Rotisseurs International Association of Gastronomy, and has personally handcrafted barrels for the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall and celebrity chef, Marco Pierre White.

While he won’t divulge production figures, Andrew says “experimentation” has been his constant companion and has underpinned his success.

“We never talk volume – we talk about making the Aston Martins of the barrel world, not Brand X,” he says.

“We’ve got access to some of the best second wood available (in Australia) which is an essential ingredient to make a world-class single malt whisky.

“There’s a lot of mathematics involved and you even have to allow for the moisture content of the timber, the type of timber and how that timber will react when there’s liquid inside – all that has to be factored in.

“It’s all about natural ingredients and timing, where nothing is forced.”

The other essential ingredient, according to Andrew, is mateship.

“The camaraderie here is second to none,” says Andrew.

“Having confidence in one another and giving the other coopers equal opportunities to what I’ve had – that’s the way to build a happy team.”

Andrew with fellow workmates Michael Hoffmann on left and Rodney Schulz to his right

This egalitarian attitude is the foundation of his other great passion, the Country Fire Service.

The Angaston CFS volunteer has notched up 40 years of service and still remembers his first fire – “it was hell on earth” – and the Barossa ‘coffee’ they carried in the water tank to keep it cool at the coalface.

Andrew also played a part in the tragic Victorian fires that redefined Australian attitudes towards bushfires.

While his role has moved from the fireground to the logistics centre, he continues to be grateful for the leadership and networking opportunities he’s benefited from.

Ultimately, he says, a “little bit of devil”, sense of humour and occasional tipple are the secret to happiness.

He’s certainly in the right place for the latter.

“I don’t have many bad days – I work in paradise – but if I do, well, I can always have a 100 year old port or a world class whisky!”

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