Image Credits: La Viennese
Avocado, Tahitian lime and extra virgin olive oil might sound more like the ingredients of an Aussie Sunday brunch than an award-winning gelato flavour. But for Andrea Calabrese, they’re the unlikely combination behind his latest victory on the national stage.
At the recent Australian Gelato Cup, held as part of Fine Food Australia at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, six of the country’s top gelato makers went head-to-head for the inaugural title of Australian Gelato Cup Champion. While the overall crown went to Victorian gelateria Oh My Gelato! (who will now travel to Sicily to represent Australia at the Sherbeth International Artisan Gelato Festival), Stirling’s own La Viennese impressed the judges and walked away with the Critics’ Choice Award.
Their entry, Scent of Home – a savoury-inspired creation blending avocado and Tahitian lime flavours, finished with a ripple of extra virgin olive oil – excelled under the judging criteria, showcasing “impressive structure and texture,” “flavour balance,” “technical execution,” and “creativity and innovation.” But let’s just say, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.
For anyone who’s tasted their way through the Adelaide Hills and been lucky enough to stop off at this beloved Stirling icon, you’ll already know the team are scooping up the crème de la crème. Owner and head gelato maker Andrea has, quite literally, lived, eaten and breathed gelato his entire life, bringing that lifelong passion to every scoop at La Viennese. His grandfather opened the family’s original gelato and pastry shop, also called La Viennese, in Rome back in 1957, before later relocating the business to Vieste on Puglia’s coast, where Andrea was born.
When we chatted to Andrea, he explained how he basically came out of the womb with a gelato scoop in hand.
“When I was born, my family didn’t take me home after the hospital – they took me straight to the gelato shop,” he explained.
“My grandfather put me on the bench and I was working.”
Andrea officially started his Gelato career at the ripe age of 15, behind the counter of that same Vieste gelateria, on a stretch of Puglian coastline famous for producing some of Italy’s finest olive oil. From there, Andrea honed his craft under respected Gelato maestro Domenico Maggiore, in what he describes as the beginning of “my first steps into this beautiful gelato world.”
His career then carried him through London, Melbourne and Perth, before he eventually settled in South Australia – first helping launch Gelateca at McLaren Vale’s Pizzateca, then St Louis in Adelaide, before finally opening La Viennese in the Adelaide Hills.
But with so many years of experience and countless batches of gelato now under his belt, we wanted to know: what actually separates a good gelato from an award-winning one?
Andrea let us in on a few tricks of the trade.
“You have to invest in the best ingredients, then know how to bring them together,” he explains. “The fat, the protein, the sweetness, the water – even one gram off can change everything.”
He calls this pursuit of balance bilanciamento: “It’s chemistry and physics. The more you know, the more you can move around within those measurements.”
But beyond the science, like so many of South Australia’s award-winners, Andrea has a deep-seated respect for quality produce – something the state has never been short of.
“If I can’t get the best product, I’d rather not make it at all,” he stressed.
“Gelato is my baby. I’m like a protective parent with it”.
So to be recognised by critics as making some of the very best gelato in the country must feel like a true full-circle moment – proof that four generations of family tradition, a passion for technical craft, the best ingredients and a little bit of creativity really is the winning recipe.
“What I’m doing is what I love,” he says. “This gelato is mine. It has my heart in it.”
La Viennese
Where: 1/77 Mount Barker Road, Stirling.
When: Monday–Wednesday: Closed, Thursday: 12pm–8pm Friday-Saturday: 11am–9pm, Sunday: 11am–8pm
For more information, click here.
