Now that the pear-shaped cat is out of the bag I feel a little less guilty for my recent neglect of these pages. But lifetime habits die hard, and I’m aware that for a site whose name contains the word ‘Review’, there has been something of a dearth of actual reviewing around here of late.

Bottles are eyeing me accusatorially from the rack – some of which I was sent a fair old time ago. And whilst we’re not technically obliged to cover everything we’re sent, I’ve always thought that it was probably the decent thing to do where possible, all things considered.

With the perry book taking up much of my free time, directing two plays and acting in a third nibbling into the rest of it, not to mention an actual job that I’m lucky enough to thoroughly enjoy, our usual format – long-form articles with reviews bolted on to the bottom almost incidentally, is going to be nigh-impossible for me to achieve on the normal weekly-or-so basis for the time being.

But I love reviewing as much as I love writing. I’ve always felt that our approach to tasting notes — in flights, with the additional context that a theme provides — is as much a part of filling in the map of cider and perry as the articles that precede them. And of course our key contention — that cider and perry are marvellous drinks worthy of more attention and respect than they are often given — can only be underpinned by proof in the form of regularly-appraised expressions.

All of which is to say that I’ll (hopefully) be posting as much as ever again, but largely in a shorter-form, review-heavy format for the time being. I don’t want to lose the insights, themes and broader context within the world of cider and perry that our articles have always sought to provide, and I dare say you’ll get at least a bit of preamble more often than not (it’s me; I can’t help myself) but do bear with me as I work my way though a temporarily new way of doing things. Ultimately the ambition of the Cider Review collective will still be to provide a robust, broad and thorough coverage of the growing and remarkable cider and perry scene in which we’re lucky enough to find ourselves.

On which note, to today’s bottles, which represent a cheery hip-hip for that international outlook. They’re a trio from German producer Gutshof Kraatz, run by Florian Profitlisch in Nordwestuckermark, north-east Germany, not far from the Baltic Sea. Florian’s something of a geographic outlier in German cider terms, being (by google maps estimates) 440 miles from Sachsenhausen, the heart of German apfelwein culture in Frankfurt. In British terms he’s as far away from where most of the action takes place as Dundee is from Bristol. But I’ve had some lovely stuff of his in the past — and aren’t people making brilliant ciders in Fife these days anyway?

For a far broader look at Florian’s output I recommend heading to the redoubtable Cider Explorer, where Natalia has reviewed at least a dozen or so of his creations and documented a visit to his cidery. In short, he makes a wide range of bottlings; ciders, perries, quinces, co-ferments; still, carbonated, traditional method and pét nats, all from local fruits. Being a way away from the traditional action when it comes to German cider and, especially, perry, he’s had to figure much of it out for himself — telling us in an interview last September that he initially started making perry without actually knowing what it was meant to taste like!

Florian sent me these bottles a good few months ago — so extra apologies for the time it’s taken to get them reviewed. We’ve a perry and two ciders, one single variety and one a blend. 

First up, his Birnen Cider 2021 Brut (look – Germany uses the term ‘pear cider’ for perry too!). It’s made from wild pears and old perry pear varieties and sees a small additional secondary fermentation in its bottle. Our continental readers can pick it up for €8.90 from Gutshof Kraatz’s website.

Gutshof Kraatz Birnen Cider 2021 Brut – review

How I served: Chilled

Appearance: Prosecco Frizzante

On the nose: Lovely bright, crisp, clean,. clear perry aromatics. A real fresh vibrancy, if perhaps not the most intense of noses. Floral, in a sense of fresh white spring flowers. Honeydew melon. A twist of garrigue herbs. Mineral. A very inviting summer’s day kind of perry nose.

In the mouth: Delivery manages that unique perry tick of being at once bright and vivacious and high toned and floral whilst also possessing a lovely, chewy, grippy, full tannic body. No wonder it does so well with food. The fizz is pleasant and not overwhelming, though I wonder if this could have got away with being still? Lovely texture anyway. Flavours are whistle-clean again, and follow the aromatic characters pretty closely, but the ripe, fresh melon, pineapple and kiwi fruitiness is amplified by that full, vinous body. The lightest touch off-dry.

In a nutshell: Super tasty, clean, expressive perry. Easy to recommend. Great value too. 

Ciders next, starting with a single variety Kanada Renette. Also known as ‘Reinette of Canada’, this is a russeted apple which, confusingly, hails from France rather than North America. Mainly used for cooking, apparently much-beloved of strudels (the finest form of baked apple, if you ask me) this is the first single variety we’ve reviewed of it in these pages, and possibly my first experience of it as a single variety full stop. (If I’ve forgotten one I do apologise). I’m a great fan of russeted apple ciders though — I love the natural concentration that the russeting instils — so I’m looking forward to this one immensely. €9.90 if you buy it from the website.

Gutshof Kraatz Kanada Renette 2020 Brut – review

How I served: Lightly chilled

Appearance: Rich gold. Still

On the nose: Again very clean and clear. It’s one of those cider noses that makes me think ‘yellow’. Yellow apple skins, beeswax, quinces, even a touch of yellow butter. A light nut skin too. I’m not a million miles off unoaked Maconnais Burgundy here, if that’s any help, which is a flavour profile various different heavily-russeted apples often take me towards. Rounded, full and pleasant.

In the mouth: Here’s something funny – I didn’t look the apple up before writing my tasting note, and the first thing I wrote was ‘nice delivery – one I think fans of russet apples will enjoy). Is there a theme to russet flavour? Someone should write an article about it sometime… Anyways – this has that waxy, almost nutty fullness of apple that I associate with russets alongside a nice development for its three years of age. No tannin, but good textural weight, a la Egremont. Not much acidity. Yellow fruit again; ripe apple, almond, quince skin, melon. Chewy, vinous texture. Works very well still.

In a nutshell: Another hit. A great gateway cider for wine lovers, particularly fans of unoaked Burgundy.

Last up is ‘Vor dem Walde’ – a blend of apples from Apfelsteig Arendsee. Not much more information to go with this, but a little dearer online (albeit it’s the 2021 being sold there) at a still-very-reasonable €11.90.Well, reasonable if the quality stacks up of course. Let’s see.

Gutshof Kraatz Vor dem Walde 2020 Brut – review

How I served: Lightly chilled

Appearance: Similar to Kanada Renette. Also still

On the nose: That’s beautiful. One of those fabulous marriages of depth and vibrancy. Shades of Eve’s Albee Hill, which is still cider royalty. Complex yellow and orange citruses, quince, fresh honey, tropical flowers and peach. Just a beautiful purity of fruit. Tropical tones and a flutter of red berries as it grows in the glass. Absolutely lovely.

In the mouth: Another full, winey, textural delivery. Light brush of tannin adds structure and weight, whilst acidity lends beautiful freshness and length. Still vibrant and youthful – should continue to age nicely – though has opened up such that the nose’s bouquet translates note for note on the palate. A ripe, harmonious chorus of deep citrus, tropical and stone fruit underscored by the crunch of apple and tang of cranberry.

In a nutshell: A definite buy. My pick of a good three. Lovely, lovely cider.

Conclusions

A tremendous set all round – well worth the wait. Vor dem Walde takes the laurels for me, but I’d buy any one of them if I could. The theme throughout was precision, purity and crispness as is generally the case with more aspirational German ciders. Importantly though, especially in the Vor dem Walde, this wasn’t at the expense of depth or fullness of texture, as can sometimes be the case. Easy to endorse all round.

Random aside, but tasting these I was reminded in some ways of some of the better, fuller American ciders (if you can excuse the gross generalisation). I suppose I’m talking in terms of their achievement of textural fullness despite relatively low tannin and their precision and clarity of fruit – something that countries with significant wine heritage seem to do generally do very well.

Anyway – lovely stuff. Really must get across to Germany sooner rather than later. Cheers Florian.