I was in Dubai recently for work – leaving temperatures of -2 degrees Celsius in the UK for a balmy 32 degrees Celsius – and something happened which allowed me to segue the trip with this Harvest 2023 summary. Admittedly I did not expect to find any cider or perry on this trip, so when the bar of the hotel I was staying in announced they had Magners available, I jumped at the chance (at the end of the day when everything for the event was set-up). Two bottles later and it came time to pay. 130 AED, roughly equivalent to £28.10 or £14.05 per bottle of Magners. That’s about the heftiest mark-up on a bottle I’ve ever encountered, and no doubt a very pleasant source of tax for the local government! It got me thinking about the journey a drink makes after each year’s Harvest – these two bottles were from an undisclosed year, made up of an unnamed number of varietals, and yet due to the country they were being sold in, commanded a price equivalent to a very nice 750ml bottle of cider or perry in the UK.
The producers we are featuring in our Harvest 2023 summary, and more generally throughout the year on Cider Review, pride themselves on that extra additional element of context about their drinks – perhaps it was sourced from the only tree left of a certain apple or pear variety; the labour-intensive, handpicked nature that the fruit came to have moved from tree to press; or the wild yeast culture only found in that particular cidery that imparts a special flavour profile to the drink. The supply chain that can get a cider from Ireland to Dubai is certainly impressive and no doubt macro in scale, but equally, the hard-work and passion involved in importing and exporting Oliver’s Cider and Little Pomona to the USA, Eve’s Cider and Eden Cider to the UK, or Ross On Wye Cider to Japan, is just as impressive, and on a much more comprehensible scale to my mind. None of it would happen without that annual natural cycle, culminating in the harvesting of fruit. Here we are then, let’s delve into Part 3 of our Harvest 2023 – The Producers Summary!
Little Pomona Orchard & Cidery
– Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: The first act of our harvest was way back in July, the 20th to be exact, when we sent 300kg of sour cherries to tank for a carbonic maceration but harvest doesn’t really start until the pome fruits arrive and this season we pressed the first of them, Discovery apples, on the 1st of September. It all ended on the 1st of December when we pressed a shade under 1600kg of the much-maligned Vilberie after an overnight maceration in the press. The juice tasted great to me and it is part of our keeving trials this year. Along the way we’ve pressed Blakeney Red, Faucett, Yellow Huffcap, Hendre Huffcap, Green Horse, Hellens Early, Gin Pear, Red Pear, Butt Pear, Discovery, Kingston Black, Egremont Russet, Dabinett, Stoke Red, Ellis Bitter, Harry Masters Jersey, Balls Bittersweet, Foxwhelp, Yarlington Mill, Major, Browns… and Bisquet! As well as Sour Cherries, Damsons, Solaris Grapes and Quince. I may have forgotten some others, sorry!
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: We’re making a little less this year than we have in the previous two harvests – partly because of the physical space we have left, partly because the fruit in 2021 and 2022 was so good we were just a little bit greedy and also because we are experimenting with a few new techniques (to us) that need close attention throughout the pressing season. We’re set to press over 10,000L of perry for the second year in a row, which we’re very happy about!
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: One of the highlights of harvest is always the arrival of our good friend and general bon vivant, Roddy Graham from Scotland. This year was extra special, marking his 10th straight harvest with us – La Decima! We pressed, picked, pressed, and picked some more and probably drank just a little too much and ate a LOT of cheese together for the week! Thanks Roddy!
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 wonderful weather at flowering time made for excellent pollination and fruit set was, for the most part, pretty impressive. There has been a lot of fruit on the trees in the county and, with a couple of exceptions (very old trees, with extreme bienniality), in the orchards with which we work. I’ve not really seen this in the 10 years we’ve been in the Shire. The poor July/ August weather combined with heavy crop loads is not an ideal situation. Early cider and perry varieties were definitely 10-15% lower in sugar but with fairly normal PH levels. Good weather in September, October and November have favoured the late varieties and sugar/acid levels seem normal and balanced but I have to say, that is with us being utterly ruthless on the sorting tables! Basically, a good vintage but with some real high points and not really any lows.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Chapel Sider
– Lincolnshire, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: First date of harvest was 16th August, last day 11th November.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: We picked and pressed the largest amount of fruit we ever have this year!
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: A highlight of Harvest 2023 was combining efforts with Paul Morris at Hoe Hill Orchard. We found out about an orchard in North Lincs from Skidbrooke Cyder who stop producing earlier this year and are now selling the fruit. Paul was very generous with helping shift around the fruit we collected as I don’t have a vehicle or trailer capable of getting to the orchard. We picked a tonne of apples over two days between the two of us. A large percentage was Somerset Redstreak with a combination of mixed cider varieties. We’ve made the same blend so going to experiment to see the impact of our cideries and methods on the final cider. The fruit was very clean and easy to pick so looking forward to seeing how that comes out.
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 vintage had lower SGs than I thought we’d get, too much early dry sunny weather, not enough at the end I think. Near us, we picked a lot of eating and culinary varieties to make a light fruity blend as they seem to sell the best round here. We also got some more red crab apples to try and recreate the Indy blend.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Abaliget Garden Projects
– Kültelek, Baranya County, Hungary
A few words of who we are…we’re a family farm believing in local, sustainable, full-circle production: from roots to glass/plate. We have a tree-nursery specializing in cider-apple and perry-pear trees as well as heritage varieties from around the world (almost). Rediscovering and saving the local old trees and varieties, discovering valuable seedlings.
Our orchard collection contains about 600 varieties, of which 400 are apples, 100 are pears and the rest are cherries, sour cherries, apricots, plums, medlars, mulberries etc. Included in the local ‘saved’ varieties; some with names e.g Batul, Téli Piros Pogácsa, Jonathan, others are unidentified or seedlings. My dream is to provide present and future cider-makers of Hungary and Europe with tress and apples.Cider-making is the cherry on top, a way of proving that apples and fruit trees are not a nuisance. Not to mention we love cider and perry!
I started commercially propagating apple and pear trees in 2019, since then we planted about 2000 trees at home and on my sister’s land. So, still, all my cider is from foraged fruit: abandoned gardens, orchards, some solitary trees in corners of fields, roadside seedlings, gardens and backyards of nearby villages etc. I talk to people, pick the apples, look after the trees, help the owners, and give back apple juice, cider or cider vinegar, so everyone is happy. I do small batch ciders, experimenting with the different varieties, various yeasts, blends of apples etc…
Since 2022 I have the facilities to press my own fruit, so I focus on pressing every variety separately, using the same yeast (Lalvin EC1118) under the same circumstances in order to get a feel for each variety, then leave as Single Variety or blend. I mostly do PetNats or bottle-conditioned ciders, though I have some still ciders and even a can.
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: We first picked on 22nd July in a villlage called Pamuk, then from 27th August continuously through till 2nd December. My method is to keep going back to the same trees and shake them lightly every week, picking and pressing weekly, fermenting individually, blending together post fermentation. There are still 2-3 seedling trees with some fruit underneath, so I might go back there at some point and press them frozen.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: I was really looking forward to this year, there were so many fruit buds in the spring, unfortunately we had really unfavourable conditions at blossom-time (rain, cold wind), so not many apples this year in the home orchards, and even those few have been eaten by hornets and birds.
Previous years I pressed about 2 tonnes of apples for apple-juice and cider. This year there were hardly any fruit like cherries, plums, apricots, so I worked extra hard to find trees that had apple on them. Some of my usual trees had a nice crop, but then the fruit got hoovered up by deer and badgers. So overall less apples, then in previous years, but luckily some other trees outperformed themselves, mostly the seedling bittersweet varieties. And of course, I had my very trusty tree owned by a 98-year-old widow. So, in the end I managed to achieve the same overall amount picked and pressed for juice and cider.
From the apples picked, the early season varieties yielded about 50°% juice, whilst from October onward juice-yield was about 70 %. I still have 2 batches of apples picked, that need to be pressed, I’m going to attempt keeving them this week.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: It’s hard to pick just one! One huge tree I pick from is owned by a widow who just turned 98 in September. I’ve been going back there for 4 years now, and she is just as bright as ever, always doing something e.g. gardening (proper! vegetable garden), feeding the chickens, collecting eggs, tidying up the yard etc. My quince cider: I ‘cheated’ and bought 120 kg quince, I so wanted to try to make a 100 % quince cider. I am very happy I did. It smelled beautiful as fruit, tasted really nice halfway through, and at bottling last week. Contrary to all the difficulties I was supposed to encounter it was very easy to press. I found a roadside seedling in town, which ripened in August and gave the tastiest tannic juice and puree for apple sauce too. One of the trees I’ve been picking for years now: very good taste both apple and juice/cider. It had really large and tasty, still a bit tannic fruit this year as opposed to previous years. So that’s another one to graft this coming spring.
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?: Average SG is about 10 degrees less than previous years concerning eaters and cookers. In 2022 the average was around 1,060, this year around 1,048-1,052. The bittersweet seedlings of October however still reached 1,060.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Marshland Cider
– Marshland St. James, Norfolk, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: We pressed fruit from 9th October through to the 25th November. Fruit used for each was picked or windfalls collected in the week previous to each date.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: 2000 litres of blended apple and pear, along with 2000 litres purely of apple. Last year I made two apple & pear batches and five apple batches. Very poor crop indeed in my orchard, ran out of fruit after the first 1000 litre batch. Especially poor year for Bramley, which are the mainstay of my cider.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: I was blown away by the generosity of local people in allowing me access to their orchards. A consequence of having virtually no Bramley is that I have used a much broader range of apples, so the cider should be pretty interesting. All the fruit is from unsprayed, lightly managed local orchards, so the cider will be a fascinating snapshot of what this area can produce, when the dominant Bramley is absent.
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?: SG is around 0.5% lower than 2022 (which was a very hot summer) and 0.5% higher than the year before that (which was cooler). Can’t comment on the flavour properly until I taste the cider, but I’d expect that it might be slightly less intense than last year, where the fruit was smaller, sweeter, and more prolific due to the weather. My cider is likely to be less tangy than usual, due to the greatly reduced quantities of Bramley, and this may translate into a richness in my sweet cider.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Find & Foster
– Huxam, Devon, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023:
My first date of harvest was 23rd October and I haven’t reached the last date yet (probably around 17th December). We’re still right in the middle of it. One specific orchard still has loads of fruit left to harvest (thank god) and another still has a bit.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: Probably 3000 litres total, 2750 litres of cider and only 250 litres perry. The fruit has been high yielding though. Because of too much going on and having got a Nuffield Scholarship this year, I’m not going to be making much cider and perry at all this year. This year I’ve only picked really exceptional fruit – I have less time to produce so am narrowing it down to incredibly good cider, making the best from the tiny amount I’m picking.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: Having an incredibly helpful, skilled and hardworking woman called Jac working with me all Harvest! And big harvest weekends with family and friends and lots of great food and cider!
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?:
There was a lot of fruit with a lower SG than usual. Because we had a dry mid-Summer around June, followed by a heavy deluge of rain thereafter, the trees drank that water up, the fruit was watered down, resulting in lower SG, fatter fruit.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Butford Organics
– Bodenham, Herefordshire, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: Dessert Apples: we started harvest on 20th August and finished on 17th November. Cider Apples: we started harvest on 30th October and finished on 23rd November. Perry Pears: we started harvest on 6th October and finished on 17th November.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: Dessert Apples: 1200 litres. Cider Apples: 2000 litres. Perry Pears: 2700 litres. Yields were substantial for both apples and pears – fruit swollen due to amount of rain? Maybe also responsible for low sugar levels. Fruit has also kept extremely well perhaps due to no early frosts.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: The first successful harvest of Coppy Perry Pears since planting about 14 years ago. SG was reasonable and milling, pressing and to date fermentation have gone well. It tastes like no perry we have made before and will hopefully be bottled to finish fermentation in bottle. We will have to be patient.
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?: A difficult year – very wet at times made access to the orchards tricky, early gales brought fruit down before it was ready which compromised the harvest as sound fruit was mixed with the bruised early fallen fruit. The lowest sugar levels we have experienced in 20+ years of cider making especially for perry pears. We have disposed of some perry (Blakeney Red) as we did not feel it worth keeping. Fermentation has been rapid probably due to warm autumn. It seems sorbitol levels in perry pears is low.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Smith Hayne Orchards
– Cheriton Fitzpaine, Devon, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: Our season started on the 20th October and finished on the 26th November.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: We managed to produce 6000 litres from Harvest 2023. Certainly an interesting year to focus on as it has been… weird! In a nutshell, the crop was massive with beautiful looking disease-free fruit but not very high SGs. Spring was cold but frost-free that suited all our varieties except Tremletts Bitter, which had a bad year. The early varieties (for us just Browns, as Tremletts Bitter was poor) were early and it looked in September that everything would be early after the hot early summer. Quite a lot of fruit dropped early but was not fully ripe. It then became clear that most of our main varieties would in fact be late (Dabinett, Yarlington Mill, Michelin) and this was a view echoed by the local big apple farmers. The later varieties like Chisel Jersey have done better than I can ever remember.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: The highlight was a large crop of very clean healthy fruit, particularly the Chisel Jersey apples.
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 think it will be very reflective of apple character, specific gravities were med/low, hard to know how it will age but I think it will be well balanced. On the whole I think the cider will be very good at showing apple characteristics rather than being coloured by high sugar or tannin.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Blue Barrel Cider
– Oakington, Cambridgeshire, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: First date of harvest – We started pressing Discovery apples on August 21st. Our bittersweet harvest started end of September. Last date of harvest: We’re still harvesting but hoping to get the Black Dabinetts done by 15th December
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: We’ve made 7000 litres this year – our cider orchard was heaving with fruit this year, it was the best year we’ve had since planting it in 2012. The neighbouring dessert fruit orchards were sparce so we’ve picked and pressed the later flowering cider fruits, all the familiar culprits such as Dabinett, Somerset Redstreak, Yarlington Mill etc.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: Epic amounts of bittersweets and not too frosty picking conditions. It’s generally been pretty nice weather for the whole harvest – bar the rain towards the end! One of the big highlights has been meeting other people with orchards and their passion for them. We’ve been lucky to pick at the Four Acres Estate in Hertfordshire thanks to the kind generosity of Platon & Sharon who have a beautiful orchard and vineyard. We even collected some pinot noir grape skins which we’ve blended to create a co-ferment which is pretty exciting.
We have also found a local orchard which is threatened with compulsory purchase for development, we’ve joined forces with Anna the owner to create a cider made with some apples from their veteran orchard, proceeds of which will go to the #savecotonorchard campaign.
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?: There’s been lower than usual sugar levels on the fruit possibly due to a very wet October. This has meant that the sugar and probably acid and tannin levels are all a bit lower, however this could be a positive given the current demand for lower ABV ciders from our customer base. We’ve found in the past a vintage year might mean stronger but doesn’t necessarily mean better cider because more gentle, lighter ciders can be just as good on a non-vintage year in their own way. We’re excited about the single and dual varietal ciders we’ve pressed due to the abundance of bittersweets we’ve pressed which will be released in 2024.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Temple Cider
– Beaminster, Dorset, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: Our first day of 2023 harvest was 20th September, handpicking Thorn perry pears in our orchard just down the road towards Bridport. Ideally, we would have started at least a week earlier but, due to other commitments, that wasn’t to be. At the time of writing we are still harvesting, and although we had hoped to finish slightly earlier this year, it’s now looking like we’ll be pressing right up until Christmas, as usual. The last apples we pick will be Porter’s Perfection, from the same orchard in which our harvest began.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: We hope to get fairly close to the magical 7,000 litres. We’ve achieved almost 2,000 litres of perry, and we hope to achieve approaching 5,000 litres of cider. This is a similar total amount to previous years.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: Having the opportunity to pick varieties we haven’t previously encountered, in an orchard only a mile away as the crow flies, was a huge highlight. Tremlett’s Bitter and Ellis Bitter are apples we haven’t had access to previously, so we are looking forward to contemplating the best way to use the resulting cider. That same orchard also provided some wonderful Kingston Black apples to add to the Kingston Blacks we already pick elsewhere, so we have high hopes for the 2023 vintage single-variety Kingston Black ciders.
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?: It’s been a pretty good vintage, we think, with the slight disappointment that we ran out of time for picking some of the fruit we had hoped to harvest. This is the major drawback of being a 2-person artisan maker and being committed to picking fruit by hand. SGs are lower than the extreme heights of last year, but we are content with what we are achieving in that respect. The fruit has been of good quality if we have been able to pick it at the optimum time, which is always what we strive to do. There have been just a few instances where we haven’t been able to get to the fruit quite as soon as we’d planned, and it’s then been more difficult to find the best specimens. That’s all part of the handpicking fun though, isn’t it?
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Whin Hill Norfolk Cider
– Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: We started our Harvest 2023 with Discovery apples on 1st September, for apple juice. The first cider apples were Ashton Bitter, which we started picking and processing on 20th September. The last variety we picked was Dabinett around 16th November, and now we’re juicing dessert and culinary apples for apple juice, maybe a little at the end for our Summer Lite cider. Should be done around the second week of December.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: Perry was down overall a little this year. As for cider apples, because they’re so biennial it’s a different story. We didn’t get any Ellis Bitter and hardly any Kingston Black this year, but for the Dabinett and Browns we got a record amount. We’ve got around 150 trees of Browns and around 100 of them had an “On” year. Next year I’m imaging a lot less from them. Overall we’re very happy with the 40,000 litres or so of cider and perry we’ve made.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: Finishing! Getting everything in the tank, hearing it bubbling away. Nothing else then you can do now at that point. It seemed to go on and on this year with apple juice, cider and perry. But it’s nearly all done now!
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 content was down a touch, which is no bad thing with this duty change. Even our Dabinett should come out around 6.8%/6.9% compared to over 7%. The quality fruit was good I’d say, we were a bit late getting to the perry pears, but apart from that all good.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Gospel Green
– Blackmoor, Hampshire, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: Our apple Harvest started in August with Discovery and was completed (early for us this year) in early October. We had been underway long before that, however, with our cherry harvest taking place in July and early August.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: We pressed over 50 tonnes of fruit this year although some of this was for juice not cider. We pressed 25% for juice and 75% for cider.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: Our season highlight was our Apple Day in October which has a record attendance in fantastic weather and many 100’s of pints of cider were consumed by thousands of visitors.
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?: Brix/SG was definitely down on last year after a cool summer. Our apple crop was pretty poor in terms of quantity because of the wet and cold pollination period and a certain amount of bi-annualism in some varieties and this being the off year.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Pilton Cider –
Shepton Mallet, Somerset, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: We started Harvest at the beginning of November, and finished the first week of December. We ideally want bittersweet fruit from late in the season, buying it in from orchards in our locality.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: We hit around 80,000 litres produced for Harvest 2023 – the real question for every producer is how much of that cider and perry will they sell the following year, that’s the million dollar question! As we buy in fruit, we’re very fortunate to always hit around this same amount every year. In a lot of cidermaking there is a distinction between orchard-based producers like Ross-on-Wye, Gregg’s Pit, Wilding, and the cider-works producers, for instance us here at Pilton, Sandford Orchards, and Hogans. We all come at it from a slightly different approach and outlook. Most of the old traditional orchards we buy from here at Pilton are biennial so we have to shift which orchards we buy from each year based on their crop yield that particular year. We like these old traditional orchards though as the low nitrogen content lends itself perfectly to keeving!
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: The quince orchard was ON again this year, with a five tonne crop. Last year was similar but the previous two years produced zero due to late frosts!
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?: Harvest 2023’s crop was extra average, with SGs between 1.046 and 1.050. The demand is moving towards lower ABV so these low SGs are fine.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Linn Cider
– Aberdour, Fife, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023: Harvest started for us on the 13th September and finished on the 17th November.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?: I made 2500 litres of cider this year. I had expected to make more after managing to source 3 tonnes of Katy apples from Perthshire. Sadly, a lack of experience here resulted in an issue with slimy pomace and I ended up only getting 300 litres of high quality juice from that quantity of fruit.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023: Well, let’s stick with the Katy apples here…it was a huge lesson for myself and an absolutely miserable few days. Overripe eating fruit is prone to produce slimy pomace and it’s like trying to press the juice from a jar of jam! This is certainly not a highlight but it’s a very valuable learning point, so I’m ok it happened!
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 SG of my fruit this year is OK! I managed to pick some fruit from the northwest coast for the first time this season and this has a predictably low SG. I’m excited to keep picking this orchard and track the SG as I learn more about orchard in the North West. My fruit from in around Edinburgh and Fife is good too but slightly less SG than 2022. We had a bit of a drought mid-season which I think stunted the fruit a little bit. I aim to make cider which is good for ageing, and I hope this year’s Scottish blends will live up to that. It’s a long journey through fermentation and ageing before bottling so I’ll know a lot more as the barrels complete fermentation in May. At that point I can take stock, but I know my Scottish blends certainly benefit from it. Our oldest cider is only 3 years old so I suppose time will tell!
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
Nightingale Cider
– Tenterden, Kent, UK
First and Last date of Harvest 2023:
Sam: First up was Discovery, picked on 23rd August, last to pick and press Jonagold, possibly the latest we’ve ever picked our dessert varieties for cider.
Max : What Sam said, though in my head seemed like we were harvesting for a lot longer but the very last of the Falstaff was pressed on the 18th of November, a few days after the last of the Jonagold.
Total amount of cider/perry/other made. Was it a good amount produced this year compared to others?:
Sam: Close to 100,000 litres, the most we’ve ever pressed.
Max: What Sam said.
Sam: We’re up 30% on last year.
Max: Can’t say, it’s my first year here.
A highlight for you of Harvest 2023:
Sam: Some of the most amazing Discovery juice we’ve ever had and having more fruit than ever from our own orchards.
Max: Driving the tractor.
Sam: This is Max’s first harvest with us (he’s been with us 6 months), I’ve been able to hand over the day to day juice, fermentation, blending and packaging; it’s been great to know it’s being well-looked after, and everything is tasting fantastic!
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?:
Sam: It’s been a mixed vintage, the early season variety – Discovery had great sugars, but the later varieties had lower sugars this due to the wet latter part of summer. The quality of the juice/young cider so far is superb.
Max: The cider is all tasting great, however, it is lower in acid and sugar so we will see how it develops, the cold drop recently has helped to preserve some freshness but the real test will be when it warms up in the spring.
Sam: Sugars lower and also lower acid across the board.
Max: Same as what Sam said, though with a couple additional tidbits… the Russet will have enough sugar, as usual, though still lower than last year, to barrel age, the rest we will have to wait and see. The Red Love is very high in acid so will be very interesting to see how it develops over the next few months.
A photo from Harvest 23 (with description):
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An interesting seies of posts with some wonderful photographs.
Thanks for initiating this.
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Thank you Robert, glad you’re enjoying them. One more to come next week ☺️
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