Once in a lifetime decisions.

Half Moon at Harvest Time

As we have now cleared a lot of the scrub in Half Moon orchard, we have come to the time when we have enough space to plant new trees to restock the areas that have been dormant. If you get the blend of apples wrong you are going to have to live with it for the rest of your life! Over the years we have looked at the old trees and wondered what was in people's minds that made them plant particular varieties all those years ago. It's somebodys finger print on the land. Originally it seems there were more cider apples but in time they put in more dual purpose such as Arthur Turner and Golden Noble. It wasn't always the right decision as many of the trees were later grafted and have two if not three different types of apple on the same tree.

Grafted Tree.

The orchard was always famous with small boys who now as grown men, tell us how good it was to scrump for Morgan Sweet on our hill and so we will certainly plant more of these. It makes sense as the orchard is south facing and very warm and so works for early ripening trees. Beyond that, the only thing to do is to imagine the blend that you would ideally want to drink. This is not as easy as it sounds as our tastes have changed over time. When we moved away to London we found that we were drinking much lighter cider as we just couldn't get the real thing. Now that we're back in the South West we're back into the swing of real flavourful ciders.

Traditionally orchards are a third each bittersweet, bittersharps and sweets. I'm currently thinking ( and drinking) a lot of Redstreak and so this has to be there in the new plantings. We'll take cuttings from some of the old Morgan Sweets and Reverend Wilks and graft these onto new trees. There will also have to be some tannin so I'm currently thinking of a few Tremlett or Dabinett for balance. The temptation is to plant things like Slack ma Girdle, Golden Knob and Sops in Wine  for comedy value.
If anybody out there has experience in the planting process then we'd love to hear from them.

A Somerset Revolution.

The State is finally achieving something it has wanted to do for more than 250 years- taxation of the small farm cider maker. Why does this matter? No tax on the first 7000 litres produced has allowed small makers to get going making a 100% natural product. It was supposed to balance the higher production costs of real cider as opposed to the Imported concentrate and corn sugar industrial stuff. I suppose they know that there just aren't enough people to oppose this and so it doesn't matter to them. We make and sell tiny amounts of cider and are slowly restoring our old orchard, I am wondering if it is now viable - probably not as our cider is sparkling and so attracts the same duty as wine. 

I have copied this from a great blog callled History is Made at Night
http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.co.uk/…/cider-tax.…

The Cider Tax
A British government in debt following an expensive war seeks to make people pay through unpopular policies - sounds familiar? This instance was in the 18th century in the aftermath of the Seven Years War, and was also a moment in the long history of the state attempting to regulate the production, distribution and consumption of alcohol.

In 1763 the Earl of Bute's government decided to impose a tax of four shillings a hogshead on cider. Since large numbers of farmers and others in the South West produced their own cider, excise officers were empowered to gain access to farms and cottages in order to collect the tax.

'The tax prompted demonstrations, mournful processions, "gatherings intent on violence" and the harrassment of excisemen. The new Bishop of Exeter found that "the people in Devonshire acted childishly and unhandsomely" towards him because "he had the misfortune to vote for the [cider tax] bill". In Exeter 1765, "the mob hissed and insulted him and one fellow had assurance to throw an apple at his head". Sir John Phillips, baronet and MP for Pembrokeshire, did not get off so lightly. A newspaper reported in 1763 that "a riotous mob did grossly affront him" while he was travelling through Monmouth. The citizens pulled him from his carriage, and after discussing whether to hang him for voting for the cider tax, decided to "extremely ill-treat him instead. They made him go down on his knees and beg their pardon'.

The government backed down in 1766. 'The West Country celebrated in 1766 with public tea parties, ox roasts, balls, bell ringing, and the decoration of orchards with gilded apples and laurels. The Gloucester Journal reported "There is nothing heard in our streets, but 'the day of the oppressor is over, the calamity of the cyder drinker is put away; the deadly excise man shall appear no more in our quarters'"

(Source of quotes: The Great Scrumpy Crisis of 1763, Independent 16 February 1992)

History is made at night: The Cider Tax

HISTORY-IS-MADE-AT-NIGHT.BLOGSPOT.COM

We're growing up.

Selling our Cider at Whiteladies Rd Market.

We've been selling the Cider from Half Moon above the farm for a few years now. It's idiosyncratic stuff in its way. All natural, no added yeast, sugar or sulphur just the juice of our apples. People love it because it's a no compromise sort of Cider and conversely, it has to be said that it's a bit too no compromise for others.  For a while ( well quite a few years actually) we've been thinking about stepping things up a bit. Restoring the orchard to the point where it has a consistent crop is going to take years which is part of the fundamental joy of doing it in the first place.
We have always done small bottling runs for other small scale local Cider and Perry producers with our tiny enomatic machine but now, deep breath, we're thinking about making and bottling our own blend made with apples from other local growers. Cider maker and all round good guy George Perry has agreed to help us scale things up. .  Way back in the day even before we came to Higher Plot, we had always thought about making something that would travel ( see previous posts) and keep fresh while retaining it's glorious Somerset character. We both remember wandering round London pubs sometime back in the last century  buying halves of every cider they had in the hope of finding one that reminded us of home. What we wanted was something dry but still with good natural apple fruit. It would have to have some tannin. Good strength but not so strong that it wasn't really refreshing, or put in another way, we wanted  pints not halves. Maybe more than just the one pint.

All we can say for now is, we've made our first attempt at a blend. We like it. Tonight we're putting a leg of new season spring lamb from Pitney Farm on the barbie and we're going to strap ourselves in for a full test flight.  - watch this space.

New Cider Labels

Monday, 13 December 2010

New Cider Labels

What do you think?

Sheppys

Last week I discovered a bottle of Sheppys Kingston Black at the back of a cupboard that must have been there for two or three years. Not needing much of an excuse I opened it up and it was still absolutely fresh with a little of the typical varietal astringency balanced beautifully with fresh acidity. In my winemaking life I would describe it as balanced and complex but on a Wednesday evening after work it was just a good drink. What more could you ask for. This inspired me to finally make an appointment to go and see them as we really want to stock their Ciders and so  today I spent a very productive morning with Mel Timmins the Sales Manager at Sheppys just south of Taunton. They really typify the best of what is happening in Somerset. There is a stark contrast between brand spanking new gleaming Spiegel steel tanks, cross flow filters  and not so gleaming but still pristine 80 year old oak.They are people  really going places that  maintain their roots in making quality. Ciders made from 100% apple juice, why would you use anything else? No concentrate. 85% from Somerset Orchards, although they do allow themselves some imports from foreign parts such as Devon.

I didn't get to meet David Sheppy but that was only because he was in a state of permanent motion driving the fork lift and cleaning out tanks. You know that it really isn't for show and it always inspires confidence when the boss is genuinely hands on. It seems to me that they have the right balance between  tradition on  one side and using modern packaging machinery to ensure that their Ciders are as consistent and taste as good as they possibly can.

One thing that intrigues me here as well as at other producers is the number of Champagne bottles and pupitres (riddling racks) that are in the museum. This idea of bottle fermenting cider has a long noble quality history. As somebody who does this himself it would be great to see more being made simply because they can taste so utterly wonderful. I wonder if I can persuade them to start a revival.

I departed very happy with a mixed case that I will taste and write up before putting them on the site when it's up and running - tough life!

Somerset Cider. Natural Revolution.

Somerset Cider – Natural Revolution.

Roger Wilkins – by Banksy?

There’s a bit of a Cider and Perry revolution going on the West Country. We went to Wilkins cider farm this weekend. Tasted straight from the vat it’s  fresh, clean and completely delicious. Unfortunately within a day of bringing it home it oxidises and starts refermenting. It’s not undrinkable but certainly not nearly as good as when freshly drawn. That’s because it’s natural and alive and not a heavily processed product.

It is often the same when you taste bulk wine – it’s full of flavour but if you bottled it unchanged you run risks of the wine having tartrate cristals, being cloudy or even exploding. This made me think about the debate raging (do wine bloggers have the energy to rage?) about “natural” wine.   We have all heard about wine not travelling and drunk something great on holiday that is dull and lifeless when you get home – a bit like me. This must be to do with surroundings but also, when somebody knows that their produce whether it’s fruit, vegetables or wine is going to be consumed immediately and locally, they don’t have to pasturise, add sulphur, cold stabilise or use any other preserving method. With city life you are always going to have to accept compromises.

There are now many people including ourselves aspiring to bottling really great cider that has flavours unique to the region where it’s produced. So far, we haven’t used any preservatives but frankly, that’s only because we’ve been lucky – we have cider in barrels that were fermented with wild yeasts but, I don’t dare open them. I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of them was spoiled. That’s the risk you take.

What am I saying? Natural products are about where you consume them. They are always going to be the exception if you live in a city.

Cider Making at Nightingale Farm.

Making Real Cider

At one time virtually every farm in Somerset had its own cider barn where householders would make cider for themselves and their workforce. They were usually partially under ground and had a tree planted right next to them to keep them nice and cool in the summer. This photo was taken at Higher Plot sometime late in the 19th century and shows the barn on the left with its newly planted tree.

Sadly this year the tree didn’t show any signs of life and so will have to come down after more than 100 years. It may re-grow from the roots but if not, we will plant a new one.

A very small number of farms in Somerset still make cider in the traditional way and I went down the road to Beer Aller to help out at Nightingale Farm where they use an old press and crusher to mill local apples. Unlike wine making there’s no sulphur, cold stabilisation or anything like that just the natural yeasts from the apples. As they say, the force of the ferment will be strong enough to get rid of any impurities ( but not in quite such a polite way).

The way to make it is to build what’s called a cheese which is alternate layers of the crushed apples and straw inside a wooden mould. It is quite skilled and hard work which is lubricated with a supply of early season Morgan Sweet cider. It also helps being tall so that you can reach the top of the cheese which could be why they asked me.

Once finished, a heavy wood board is lifted on top and the screw lowered down. The weight of the apples will start the juice flowing and once the pressure is applied it becomes a dark brown torrent. Then all there is left to do is to occasionally turn the screw whilst having a chat and some more cider. We tasted the end of last years cider which locally is called Screech because this is what it makes you want to do. It’s completely dry and acid but is just about OK if mixed with the fresh juice.

The result can be delicious particularly when young and we are trying to pursuade Roger and Linda to do an extra batch for us to bottle. It would mean a cider that has been made for hundreds of years being sold for the first time which I suppose is a way of keeping it alive. I can’t help feeling that if this was being made in France or Italy us Brits would be raving about a traditional product and way of life and how wonderful it is. Because it’s on our doorstep we aren’t interested.  Happily there are signs that enough people want to keep this alive simply because it’s unique and, most importantly, it tastes great.

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