Trees & Barrels

Fire Cider

Take the sweet, rich juice of your best cider apples. Trickle it across large trays lain over a roaring pear wood fire. Watch it boil and darken. ...

Grafting

Late winter, just as the sap begins to rise, is the time for grafting. Apples grown from pips do not grow true to their parent (scion), so differe...

Pommeau

Some years we have a little of our cider distilled into apple brandy by a local micro distillery. We age the brandy in oak for several months befo...

Pressing

Once picked, fruit is shed stored for as long as possible to convert any remaining starches into sugar and flavour. At the cidery the fruit is was...

Philosophy

We strive to make cider with integrity, without compromise, with no short cuts, and with minimal intervention. Our ciders are made from 100% fresh...

Bees

Bees help pollinate our apples and pears, and every year we rent hives from a local beekeeper. During a warm spring day when the apple trees are i...

Apples

We grow about 30 different varieties of cider apple. We are still working out which do well in the Moutere and make good cider to boot. Some of ou...

Planting

This is what happens when you hand a zany teenager a video recorder, and ask her to document a day's apple planting (2011).

Harvest

At harvest we need hands. Our fruit is picked by hand. Some from the tree, some shaken to the ground and gathered up from there. It is hard work, ...

Spring

Spring in the orchard - no need to say much - blossom, bees, lambs, fresh succulent young leaves. In spring you start to get a feel for the balanc...

Winter

The cider is made and we wait. The leaves are off the trees and it is time for orchard work. Time to prune, mend wires and posts, to plant and to ...

Summer

Summer in the Moutere can be dry and hot. We are circled by mountains, and on some days when the earth is parched and the trees need a drink, we c...