Through the course of compiling this Harvest 2023 summary, I’ve been struck by the numbers of producers that have responded to my requests by saying “What a great idea! There’s nothing like this for producers of our scale”, or words to that effect. I eagerly read a particular State of the Nation in Cider Report each year, but it is really something that covers the macro producers, the big pub chains, and the supermarkets. Through the various articles and upcoming book on Perry, written by our editor Adam, and published by CAMRA Books, I’ve had the distinct feeling of a resurgence of interest in Perry this year from lots of craft producers. This seems to be being played out here in many of the responses to our Harvest 2023 questions, but would you know this was happening if you just read that aforementioned report? I’m told that winemakers of even quite small production scales across France contribute to Harvest reports each year, so why not cider and perry too? Everything has its place, and whilst we’re definitely on the micro-to-medium end of the scale when it comes to the producers we like to cover here on Cider Review, all of their accounts and stories of harvesting, pressing, and general toil are just as worthy a read as any of the big boys in the playground.
Perhaps another instigator for collating together these accounts of Harvest 2023 was a sense I felt when I’d hosed down my scratter and hydropress for the last time this season, putting everything to bed for another nine months. I’d enjoyed the whole process so much this year – everything ran extremely smoothly around other work and personal commitments – that once the final apple had been picked, scratted, and pressed, and there was literally nothing else to do till pruning comes around in January, I was, well… a bit lost. Thank goodness for a love of reaching out to lots of folk from different walks of life and collating their words and thoughts onto Cider Review! Here we go then, Part 2 of our Harvest 2023 summary.
Gould Cider & Perries
– Grampound, Cornwall, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: Harvest started in September and should be completed in the last week of November.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: In recent years our fruit harvest has been about 7 tons but 2023 surprised us with what we estimate to be more than 20 tons. This was more than a little awkward for our small-scale apple handling processes, equipment and backs.
2023 was also an exceptional year for orchard voles and moles, a good year for our orchard hornets, ants, both red and brown, and woodpeckers and an OK year for frogs, mason bees and for wasps. In 2023 our level of Codling moth infestation was, inexplicably, historically very low.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: This year’s harvest highlight was a small first crop of ‘Rene Martin’, an apple variety from Calvados. It was delicious, even in our poor year, lip-smackingly sour, complex, low tannin, shaped and coloured like a small Adam’s Pearmain. Rene Martin is a delicate, small tree with good branch angles and spacings, distinctive bark, spur bearing, prolific, canker resistant, quick to fruit with fruit having good stability on the ground. Budwood freely available for those that are interested.
How would you describe the vintage of cider/perry/other produced this year? Were SG’s higher or lower than usual? What was the quality and abundance of the fruit like?: Juice quality was low, perhaps the lowest we have had. This may have reflected low sunshine levels in July and August. Many early varieties including Frederick, Katy, Rev Tom Putt, Crimson King and Dufflin went from under ripe (higher acid levels, retained green background skin colour, retained starch, low soluble solids / sugar levels and low ester levels) to overripe without passing through ripe. Of the September apples only Somerset Redstreak scraped through as usable.
Low juice quality persisted into October and November. Juices of many varieties including Northwood, Brown’s, Hastings, Helen’s, Prince William, Amanda, Biscuit / Michelin, were of such poor quality they were not worth processing. We shall taste and see, in the New Year, whether others, such as Tale Sweet, Fillbarrel, Adam’s Pearmain, Kingston Black, Court of Wyck, Antoinette, Baguette, Juliana, Petit Jaune, Marie Menard, Mettais, Douce Moen, Douce Coet Ligne, Rambault, and Kermerrien, although poorer quality juice than previous years, prove to have been worth the candle.
This year we have pressed only 0.6 tons of Perry pears largely with Barland and Taynton Squash, both harshly bitter. Many of our choice varieties have taken a year off. Catillac and Black Worcester had large crops, but again with low quality juice.
We have also started ~1.8 tons of cider vinegar (Orleans process, 2-3 year cycle) and about 6 tons of ciders which if not up to scratch will end up in Penzance with our distillers, Sean and Balascs of Pocketful of Stones.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Kertelrieter Cider & Perry
– Schefflenz, Germany
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: Looking at my photos, it looks like we started picking up pears on September 7th, right after I got back from the Ross Festival.
Our harvesting schedule is always a little chaotic, basically fitting in sessions when we can, evenings after work or weekends. It is especially so with the pear trees, which are scattered across a wide area. Harvesting apples at the orchard is much more efficient!
At the time of writing, November 12th, in theory we are not yet finished, as there are still some late varieties hanging that I would really, really like to press, but illness (both of us!) and the need to plan the planting of the new perry pear orchard means I should probably just draw a line and say that’s it. But the last pressing session I did was on the 1st of November.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: It’s been a strange harvest year. A lot less perry pears than the last couple of years. And though the apple harvest looked to be really excellent earlier in the year, a lot of the fruit had already fallen in August, the trees stressed by another hot and dry year. In a good year we’ve easily made 2500 to 3000 litres, usually limited only by space in the cellar. This year we’ve only managed just under 2000.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: Don’t tell anyone, but I hate harvesting. I love pressing, I love caring for the orchard and the trees, but I hate harvesting. If it wasn’t for my wife, Ines, we probably wouldn’t make half as much perry as we do! I also don’t like asking for help, so a really nice highlight was our neighbours (the original Kertelreiter group) and their kids insisting on helping do a mega harvest session at the orchard. Many hands definitely make light work!
How would you describe the vintage of cider/perry/other produced this year? Were SG’s higher or lower than usual? What was the quality and abundance of the fruit like?: Gravities were lower than we expected for such a generally hot year, more or less across the board, except for some pear varieties. Not as bad as 2021, but noticeably so. I’m not sure how to explain that, though June was a bit wetter, but too little too late for the stressed trees, and I think the fact so much fruit fell weeks earlier than they should is one reason. Much simply had no time to build more sugars. We tumped a lot of the apples to try to get as much aroma and reduce acids before pressing, but I won’t pass judgement yet on the overall cider quality for 2023. But I am happy with the pear juice we pressed!
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Charnwood Cider
– Leicester, Leicestershire, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: Harvest started on the 19th September this year, with my last pressing on 16th November.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: I made 4500 litres approximately this year, around 1000 litres more than 2022 season.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: The highlight of this season has been that my own, now teenage orchard had its biggest crop to date, in fact so big that I have hardly collected any apples from any other orchards but my own. Usually, the bulk of the apples I use come from old local orchards. Although there wasn’t a huge amount of fruit in those orchards this year it felt strange not to be harvesting from them. Having said that, the whole point of planting an orchard is to use the fruit it produces. I’ve certainly made the most of that opportunity which has felt absolutely amazing! As a result of the bountiful crop I’ve also had enough apples of some varieties for the first time to be able to produce some small batch single variety ciders with them which, for a cider maker, is indeed very exciting!
How would you describe the vintage of cider/perry/other produced this year? Were SG’s higher or lower than usual? What was the quality and abundance of the fruit like?: The apples seemed to be large and very juicy this year but with a lower than normal sugar content meaning that the resulting cider will be less strong. This is not a necessarily a bad thing as the quality was good, the juices tasted great and I’m confident that the ciders made will turn out good!
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Ripe Cider
– St Veep, Cornwall, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: Our first day of picking fruit was 16th September, and we finished picking on 29th November.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: As we haven’t yet quite finished pressing everything, we’re predicting around 5000 litres.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: We have secured a permanent home for Ripe after having to move the cidery every year to date.
How would you describe the vintage of cider/perry/other produced this year? Were SG’s higher or lower than usual? What was the quality and abundance of the fruit like?: Slightly lower sugar levels than last year but nothing drastic.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Haye Farm Cider
– St Veep, Cornwall, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: 16th of September was the first day we picked our fruit, and we finished up on 15th November.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: Circa 5000 litres
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: Working with the apple varieties unique to Haye Farm. There are known to be 9 unique varieties in the orchards.
How would you describe the vintage of cider/perry/other produced this year? Were SG’s higher or lower than usual? What was the quality and abundance of the fruit like?: Slightly lower sugar levels than last year
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Lagg Distillery
– Kilmory, Isle of Arran, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: We harvested our dessert apples in early September and mid-late September for our cider varieties.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: In total we harvested around 910kg of fruit, of which we made around 300 litres of cider. The Michelins didn’t give as much juice as other varieties, though they were incredibly sugary.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: It has to be finally seeing the crop harvested for the first time, knowing it’s the start of something special (with a lot of the trees being planted on site back in 2018, with further planting in 2020 and 2021).
How would you describe the vintage of cider/perry/other produced this year? Were SG’s higher or lower than usual? What was the quality and abundance of the fruit like?: Specific gravity came in at SG1058, a respectable SG in the cider world I think (a bit different to the world of whisky). Aiming for a strength of around 7.6% when fully fermented to dry. Ageing the cider will come in future harvests as this is a trial run to see if there’s interest.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
GCB
– Westerlo, Belgium
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: First date of harvest was 28th August, and the final date 23rd October.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: I made 560 litres this year.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: I would say the highlight of this pressing season for me was the first pressing day. In the first day I pressed 60kg of apples and 60kg of pears – so an easy day to start the season. The other days I bought a bit too much, I needed to ask my friends and family to help me to be able to get it done in one day. So the first pressing day was the most fun and the result is also looking good!
How would you describe the vintage of cider/perry/other produced this year? Were SG’s higher or lower than usual? What was the quality and abundance of the fruit like?: I can’t really compare the fruit from this year to last year because we used different varieties, I am also not that experienced yet. It’s only my second year of making cider.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Skyborry Cider & Perry
– Knighton, Powys, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: We started harvest on the 8th September. Finished harvest on the 20th November. Pressing will finish probably the first week of December.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: We have pressed just short of 7000 litres. This is the most we have ever made (normally 5-7000 litres).
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: Each year we have a batch of cider that grabs the most of our attention – from the start we are captured by the fruit quality and the potential of the finished cider. This year we have a blend of fruit from Gillian Bulmer’s orchards in Breinton. We blended it throughout the season in this order Nehou, Somerset Redstreak, White Beech, Kingston Black, Skyrmes Kernel. We raised the acidity slightly with a bit of Foxwhelp from 22 harvest. It’s tasting lovely and complex. Fingers crossed!
How would you describe the vintage of cider/perry/other produced this year? Were SG’s higher or lower than usual? What was the quality and abundance of the fruit like?: We are 80% of the way through pressing and I think we could say that the sugar levels in the fruit are lower this year than they ever have been for us in 14 years. It comes off the back of 2022 harvest where we were above average and the flavour concentration in the fruit was very good. This year not so much… It’s been wet and not very sunny for most of the Summer and Autumn. It’s not all about sugar levels, but we feel that a Specific Gravity reading of over 1050 is a good starting point. I remember reading that from an interview with brilliant cidermaker Cyril Zangs from Normandie, and it stuck. We normally finish around 1054, this year most of our blends will be just short of 1050.
Potential for ageing? We have not practiced ageing (beyond a year) of cider or perry much before but this year we have bought two 500-litre ex-sherry casks, and two 220-litre white wine barrels. I’d guess it isn’t a great year for age worthy ciders as the flavour concentration is less in the fruit. We will fill them and see what happens. We have to keep making the cider!
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Cwm Maddoc Craft Cider & Perry
– Broad Oak, Herefordshire, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: Our first date of Harvest 2023 for apple juice was 10th August, with the culinary apple variety Emneth Early. We later started our harvest of Thorn Perry Pears, picked 11th September, and pressed 18th September. The last harvest date for an Ashmead’s Kernel/Dabinett/Brown Snout cider blend was pressed 21st November (picked over the previous 4 weeks).
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: Total cider: 832 litres. Total perry: 506 litres. Total apple juice: 1473 litres. For Cider, we produced about the same as previous years, but with Perry it was down about 50% (a deliberate policy to rationalise number of varieties fermented).
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: A huge crop from my own orchard! It was the first year I was able to make use of my own fruit for the majority of my cider. Another highlight, it was the first year I was able to harvest the perry pear Hendre Huffcap.
How would you describe the vintage of cider/perry/other produced this year? Were SG’s higher or lower than usual? What was the quality and abundance of the fruit like?: Low initial specific gravity of the juice from fruit. Good quality fruit all round in terms of size, disease, slug attack etc.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Hogan’s Cider
– Haselor, Warwickshire, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: Our first day harvesting this year was 25th September. We picked an early variety of Perry Pear called Thorn. We are still harvesting cider apples, probably finish next week (4th – 10th December)
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: The total volume of Cider and Perry produced are definitely up on last year – north of 300,000 litres.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: Getting a trailer full of pears and a 4 x 4 stuck in a very wet orchard. Farmer pulled us out with ease.
How would you describe the vintage of cider/perry/other produced this year? Were SG’s higher or lower than usual? What was the quality and abundance of the fruit like?: Sugar levels are down on last year, early fruit was around the mid to high 1040s. Later fruit is coming in at a more typical high 1050s
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Cider Review 