A HOBBY NO MORE

World Stage SA Exhibition - The Advertiser, September 22, 2001, page 62

After 35 years in the restaurant business, Libero DeLuca, pictured, started making the Italian liqueur limoncello as a "hobby".

Now the "hobby" has evolved into an expanding business, with sales across Australia and markets opening overseas. Limoncello is a trendy Italian liqueur which has its origins as a grappa-like after-dinner digestivo.

The rise of the Goodwood-based Limoncello Australia Pty Ltd is one of the shining food-and-beverage stories to be showcased at World Stage SA. Tastings will be held of Ambra Limoncello, as well as Ambra Agrumello orange liqueur, Ambra Fragolino strawberry liqueur and Mr DeLuca's latest offering, Ambra Chocolatino chocolate and orange liqueur.

"Ambra Chocolatino is a beautiful product which will do well," he says with passion, but it's limoncello which is the core of the business. It is made from the peel only of Lisbon and Eureka lemons, specially grown and harvested in the Riverland to Mr DeLuca's strict specifications.

The factory is in a handsome yellow building on Goodwood Rd, superbly appointed with a showroom in which the cloudy lemon liqueurs are arrayed in an assortment of unusually shaped bottles on perspex display shelves. Mr DeLuca imports the sleek, ice-glazed bottles from Italy, along with his exclusive bottling equipment. Out in the clinically pristine back rooms of the factory, the liqueurs are made in large stainless steel fermenting tanks.

"We started making limoncello in 20 litre batches - now its thousands of litres. The growth has been exciting," says Mr DeLuca, who for years ran Da Libero restaurant on The Parade, Norwood.

His product is sold all around Australia and exports have opened to Singapore, with negotiations under way with the United States and Hong Kong. "I have three employees here plus three (salesmen) interstate but I'll have to employ more," he says.