2020 Overview
​
Autumn 2020 5.5% ABV 75cl
Sometimes things don't work out how you wanted but are very nice all the same. This blend featured the best Yarlington Mill of the season (Home Orchard and Ditcheat Hill) with some lovely Stoke Red from Abbot's Leigh and was bottled to become an ancestral method sparkling, but the cider refused to finish fermenting in the bottle and so we have a very drinkable, delicious cider with a little residual sugar and a little sediment too. Shake it to wake it or pour carefully - either way you have delicious autumnal cider for drinking at any time of year. Aromas of copper, boiled sweets, ripe apples and spice betray the high quality of the Yarlington Mill used here. Drink with cheese, ham, chutney type lunches.
Claret and New Meadow 2020 5.05% ABV 75cl
Here we have something a bit special for you - unusual, unrepeatable, unquestionably delicious, this is a wild keeved, very sweet dessert perry with fragrance, tannin, acid and natural pear sugar in a tongue tingling balance. It's a luscious drink with notes of poached prunes, sweet sherry, wild strawberries and plum crumble. Just one cask of this was made and I'm not sure it'll happen again so make the most of it. It's great with Stilton, it's great with ice cream and prunes, it's probably going to be great with Christmas pudding.
Run Deep 2020 7% ABV 75cl
Run Deep is a bone dry and complex blended cider. It has pronounced acidity, soft tannins, and typical bittersweet aromas, with a distinctively Somerset character. Drink with good cheddar.
Varieties: Harry masters, Ellis Bitter, Stoke Red, Browns, Dabinett, Michelin, Yarlington Mill.
Fermented slowly in stainless steel, with a 25% portion matured in an old oak cask for six months. Drinking well now and up to 2024.
Reasons to be Cheerful 2020 3.9% ABV 75cl
With quality fruit from old orchards, careful racking during the winter and very slow fermentation, it is possible to achieve a cider with natural sugar from the apples left in the bottle: we call this the “Rural Method”. This is one such cider, a blend of rich, late harvested fruit, pressed in December 2019. Good to drink with food or without, whenever you need a reason to be cheerful. Aromas of tropical fruit are kept in balance with good tannic structure and gentle acidity. The blend is built around Ashton Brown Jersey (which brings the tropical fruit) Dabinett, Stoke Red and Vilberie (more tropical fruit).
Kingston Black 2020 4.3% ABV 75cl
For the first time we have made a single orchard Kingston Black, using fruit from five trees in our new Burlands orchard in Compton Dando. The trees are 35 years old and the fruit was excellent, exhibiting classic Kingston Black aromas of apple pie, toffee apple and orchard floor. Made with the rural method, this cider is naturally sweet with fruity acidity and well balanced tannins. Drink with ripe cheeses or apple puddings. Best chilled.
Commix 2020 5.9% ABV 75cl
Commix is a classic blended cider for drinking with food. This is the third vintage we have made, and this time it's a single orchard blend from Abbot's Leigh. The blend features the bitter sweet Dabinett (30%), bitter sharp Stoke Red (46%) and pure sweet Sweet Coppin (24%). The result is a well balanced, easy drinking cider with lots of fresh fruit on the nose, soft tannin and slight residual sugar. Drink lightly chilled, not too cold. Great with food.
Yarlington Mill & Stoke Red 2019 6% ABV 75cl
Dry, ancestral method, bittersweet cider. This blend of Yarlington Mill (85%) and Stoke Red (15%) was co-fermented in stainless steel before finishing fermentation in bottle. Extended lees ageing for 20 months gives secondary flavours from tannin breakdown and everything softens to give a cider with a velvety mouthfeel and complex tannin and aromas. Classic Yarlington Mill aromas abound of orchard floor, toffee apple, copper, leather, spice. Great with cheese, roast chicken or rich vegetable dishes.
Dabinett & Yarlington Mill 2020 4.9% ABV 75cl
Late harvested Yarlington Mill (50%) and Dabinett (50%) were pressed together in early December and co-fermented spontaneously in very cool conditions without any sharp fruit used. This is unrestrained bittersweet fruit and displays the full gamut of tannin and secondary tannic character. It’s rich and savoury, great with cheddar cheese, pork casserole or mushrooms in cream sauce.
Perry Hill 2020 7.1% ABV 75cl
An orchard blend which shows the diversity of the very special 110 year old orchard at Perry House Farm in Chew Stoke. Co-fermented in stainless steel and racked once before bottling. Still (a slight prickle of bubbles) and medium dry, it’s ideally suited to drinking with savoury, umami rich foods where the slight sweetness balances beautifully, also great with oysters! Varieties are: Blakeney Red, Holmer, Hellens Green, White Longdon, Taynton Squash, Oldfield, Pine, Pint, Moorcroft, New Meadow, Claret, Barnett and Yellow Huffcap.
Marl 2020 6% ABV 75cl
A complex blended cider using fruit from our four main orchards, based around Dove, Yarlington Mill and Browns, with a host of other varieties in supporting roles. The result is light and easy to drink with a mouthwatering mineral edge which reflects the various clay and limestone geologies of all our orchards. A perfect summer cider to drink with food (think grilled fish, oysters, salads, nice vegetables)
Blakeney Red & Yellow Huffcap 2020 6.6% ABV 75cl
We were very lucky in 2020 to pick a stunning perry orchard in a neighbouring village, planted in 1911 as a Long Ashton trial orchard. The season was good with excellent sugar levels and fantastic aromas. In this blend we have paired the delicate and gentle Blakeney Red with Yellow Huffcap, a bittersharp with masses of aroma, acid, sugar and texture. The result is extremely drinkable with gentle natural bubbles, refreshing acidity and some sorbitol to balance. Zippy acid and mouth-watering tannin in the mouth, aromas are of apple sour sweets, marzipan, blossom, sherbet.
Ditcheat Hill 2020 3.4% ABV 75cl
Ditcheat Hill is a special orchard and each year we make a blend of the best fruit from here to make a light and easy drinking cider. This year the sugar levels were lower than previously on average and we have compensated by using a higher proportion of Ashton Brown Jersey and less Sweet Coppin than before. Made with the rural method. The result is very delicate and well balanced, very sweet but complex. Great with cheese, especially buttery cheddars, blue cheese, soft white mould cheeses. Also good with apple tart or roasted chestnuts.
Stoke Red #2 2020 3.7% ABV 75cl
This is the second single orchard Stoke Red we made in 2020, from a beautiful old orchard in Ditcheat, with trees of similar age to Abbot's Leigh. They were picked in the same week as the Abbot's Leigh fruit, and pressed on the same day, then fermented in the same way, racking on the same day each time (Rural Method) before bottling on the same day in the summer. The result is intriguingly different, a lighter colour, with less of the typical rose/strawberry aroma. Instead it has a more savoury, structured character with the same tension in balance of tannin, acid and sugar. Very classy and better with savoury food than sweet. The aromas are of stone fruit, some minerality, a slight herbaceous note.
Orchard Spirit 2019 40% ABV 35cl
This is the second iteration of our eau de vie and builds on what we learnt from the 2018 batch. We have selected and blended the two best and most instantly drinkable batches of spirit straight from the still, and matured them in a neutral container for 6 months before bottling, to allow the aromas to settle and integrate. The cider itself was wild fermented using hand picked fruit from all of the different orchards we manage and pick from. A slow fermentation was followed by over 6 months of maturation in the tank before distillation at Circumstance Distillery. 2019 harvest was difficult with poor weather but the fruit itself was very good quality and we have achieved an extremely good, very complex drink.
​
​