Wanaka chef and entrepreneur Gus Hayden has taken out a trio of awards at the Outstanding NZ Food Producers Awards.

Gus makes preserves, chutneys and jams through his company Augustine’s of Central. 

Judges at the food awards were impressed by Gus, who received three gold awards including the Farro Earth Champion award for his black doris plum and pinot noir preserve.

“I’m pretty blown away by it,” Gus told the Wanaka App as he travelled back to Wanaka after attending the awards ceremony in Auckland, awards in hand.

The black doris plum and pinot noir preserve, which judges said had “a lovely story of terroir”. PHOTO: Ray Tiddy Photography

Agustine’s is becoming known for its creative flavour combinations. As well as the award-winning plum and pinot combination, Gus has experimented with riesling and also recently created a rhubarb and rosѐ preserve.

The judges said Gus had “revived the age-old art of preserving, giving Central Otago summer bounty a modern twist,” and the Farro award winner had “a lovely story of terroir”.

“The wine gives more of a depth of flavour as the aromatics in the wine make the syrup a lot more flavoursome,” Gus said.

Gus at the awards ceremony with his partner Jana. PHOTO: Supplied

Adding pinot to the plum preserve was a “no brainer” because it’s a local wine, while riesling makes a good, sweet match for apricots, he said.

“And with our new rhubarb and rosѐ, the feedback we are getting is that people are loving it.”

Gus fits in Augustine’s of Central around full-time work as a chef; the growing side-business started back in 2014 and came about serendipitously. 

From next year Gus will focus on Agustine’s of Central full-time. PHOTO: Ray Tiddy Photography

“I was working at the White House and I came across an ad in the Messenger for apricots; I took a couple of boxes that year and tried out preserving some and giving them to friends and family and got great feedback,” Gus said.

“The next year I went back and asked for a ton of apricots and made 500-odd jars which sold really quickly. By the next year I went back and said ‘I’ll have everything’.”

Gus sources all his fruit from Cromwell and harvesting and bottling is usually a team effort with friends and family pitching in. 

The presentation of the products - stocked in eight local stores and also available online - is important, as is using no-waste packaging (everything is sold in glass jars with a simple label attached with twine). 

This latest round of awards - he also secured wins at both the 2019 and 2020 awards - has encouraged Gus to step back from his other work to focus on Augstine’s more or less full-time from next year. 

He started off using just apricots, and plums and quince have been more recent additions, but there are plenty more flavours, fruits and combinations Gus is excited to explore when he has more time dedicated to it.

“I really want to concentrate on it fully and try to grow the range,” he said.

See the full range of Agustine's of Central here.