Imagine for a moment what would happen if legislators across Europe decided that wine could be made from just 50% juice content. Imagine that you could add water at a 1:1 ratio and still call it wine. Barring some kind of wedding at Cana miracle prior to opening a bottle, this would not be accepted by the wine-drinking public, and certainly not by legislators in wine-producing countries, would it? But this is exactly what is happening across Europe now to cider.

Well, I suppose it has already happened in most places, with the UK allowing as low as 35% juice, and certain Scandinavian countries even less. But as many of you will have seen on social media over the past few months, there is a move to enshrine a definition of cider at the EU level. The GREX Committee, part of Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, submitted drafts on the 5th of December 2024, putting forward the proposal that cider might be considered as a sector to which marketing standards apply, and an accompanying draft proposal for what those standards might look like. The current draft proposal suggests a minimum juice level of 50%, as well as suggested rules on labelling and presentation.

From some informal chats with members of the AICV (the European Cider and Fruit Wine Association) committee, the body that represents the interests of European cider and fruit wine producers while also providing advice on policy drafting, it appears this 50% is a compromise position. However it is heavily contested, with some parties being unhappy because the proposed juice content is too high, and others because it is too low. But one can’t overstate the power of large multinational companies when it comes to lobbying for legislation in their favour.

I admit that I am in danger of repeating myself, as a year ago I had a minor rant on the danger of definitions that allow the quality and heritage of cider to be diluted, both literally and figuratively, but please bear with me.

Cider (and here I mean it in the broad, international meaning of fermented apple juice, so throw in the Apfelwein, Viez, Sidra, Cidre etc…) has been around for a very long time, well over a millennium. It has a long, storied history, having been made and enjoyed by farmers and nobility alike, and for hundreds and hundreds of years was made simply from the full juice of apples.

At some point in the latter half of the last century, when things got more industrialised and drinks like beer and cider became more commoditised, things started to change. As juice could be concentrated to aid long term storage and transport, adding water to reconstitute it become the norm for the larger, more industrialised cider factories. Global economies made it easy to then ship such concentrate across the globe, allowing such massive producers to manufacture new batches at will throughout the year, further detaching cider from its agricultural and harvest-based roots. And sure, if you are adding water to reconstitute it, why not add a little more to make it stretch further? Maybe a little sugar and corn syrup too?

The result has been that the very idea of cider, as understood by the majority of the population, has become thin and threadbare, foregoing entirely the long, rich heritage it has.

At the end of last year, Germany finally proposed a new national definition for cider that sets a minimum of 50% juice content, which is due to enter law next year. As I wrote last year, till now there has been no legal definition for the word cider here in Germany, but there is plenty of legislation for Apfelwein, which is why makers of cider in Germany must put Apfelwein on their labels somewhere. This new proposed EU-wide definition for cider at 50% juice is supported by the German industry umbrella group for fruit wine makers, the VdFw, but they seem to think cider is something that is always watered down, with added apple flavour and sweeteners. They think Apfelwein is the pure variant. They need to learn more about the cider traditions of Europe, and Britain in particular, as they are completely wrong in their interpretation of what cider is. Cider manufactured by industrial processes should not be the definition!

As a cider aficionado, certified Pommelier, cidermaker, hell, just as someone who likes drinking this drink and appreciates its incredible history, I find it deeply frustrating that industry bodies and legislators seem oblivioust of the true heritage of the drink for which they are legislating, or that they appear to be totally swayed by industrial producers.

Let’s go back to the wine parallel. Apart from some basic necessary steps like crushing the fruit prior to pressing, the making process behind real cider and wine is almost identical. The fruit is pressed and fermented. Why then must this basic principle of cider be ignored, and instead the definitions of industrial producers be enshrined in law?

The most honest way to approach the requirement for a definition is to say it is made like wine with 100% juice. Anything else being added would make it a cider-like, or cider-containing drink, and should be labelled accordingly. Anything less than this is simply dishonest, obfuscating what cider traditionally is.

There was a flurry of social media activity last week when Per Bengtson, a Swedish maker living in Belgium, created a petition calling for the European Commission to protect European artisanal cider and perry (at the time of scheduling this, with 649 signatures).

Per quite rightly pointed out the sustainability, biodiversity and self-sufficiency aspects which make cider, and the orcharding that underpins it, an important factor for a growing consumer demand for natural, regional products.

For small, artisanal cideries that create sustainable, 100% juice, harvest-based ciders in tempo with the seasons, competing with producers that use concentrate and water to manufacture cheap alternatives totally skews consumer perspectives when both are called cider. Given that both ends of this spectrum share the same name, in the mind of the average consumer they might as well be the the same thing, so a lot of explanation is needed to get them to understand the differences in process, price and quality.

In the wine world, you also have a huge range of prices and quality, but at least you know the very basic premise of what you have bought is 100% grape juice. In cider we can have the same range of price and quality using 100% juice. It’s the alcopops and other heavily diluted mass-produced drinks that have bastardised the very concept of cider, setting low expectations and prices that favour huge corporations.

I, and a group of like-minded people here in Germany, are considering writing directly to our own Members of the European Parliament and industry bodies to try to raise awareness of the problems we see for makers and drinkers, perhaps as an open letter, and I would invite other makers to do the same.

As a cider drinker, you can also voice your concerns, assuming you share them, either adding your name to Per’s petition or, if in the EU, contacting your MEPs to give input on the proposed amending of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 to explicitly establish a Union marketing standard for cider and perry, and tell them cider should be 100% juice.

It might feel like an uphill struggle, because it is, but this is one of the few opportunities to get legislators to really think a bit deeper about what cider is, and to reflect on the long cultural heritage that is has across central and western Europe. Let them know what they have been missing.