AN APPLE A DAY... 🍏

Hey, Fionn again!

What a week it’s been since I last put pen 2 paper. You thirsty lot snapped up all of last week’s goodies in record time. Nice one. Well, ‘cos we’re the best we have restocked on whatever we could get our hands on. Buronfosse is back, more Dandelion, last few limited Ham Street, etc. This is probably the last restock we’ll be able to get so you’ve been warned. If you missed it, read all about it here.

On the topic of allocated things. I’m sure you saw this week’s previous email. Final call as we still have a few strays of Ganevat, De Moor, Valentini, and Pergole Torte. Once these are gone they ain’t coming back!

Ok ok, heavy hitters aside. This week we’ll be going back down to earth, shining a light on some stuff that is both VERY easy on the wallet and the liver. I recently had the pleasure of taking a little trip over to the west country. On the hunt for delicious beverages, I stumbled across Little Pomona, the inspiring project from Susanna and James Forbes. Having spent most of their lives in the wine business, they dreamed of leaving the big smoke to set up something of their own. So in 2014, they upped sticks and despite using apples rather than grapes, they are now very much living their dream. Having spent a day in their orchard, I’d say you’d be hard-pressed to find a more tranquil place in England. Some of the nicest people you’ll meet too!

Cider gets such a bad rap here in the UK. The mass market stuff has dominated for so long that we automatically think of the sticky, manipulated stuff poured in pubs across the country. Here apples play second fiddle to additives, sugar, and god knows what else. Real cider, should be made from apples alone. Ignore your adolescent days of drinking Henry Weston’s and go into these with an open mind. Cider is far closer to wine than you’d think. It comes from a fruit, it’s vintage dependent and is often made in remarkably similar ways. There is something vinous about Little Pomona’s output. Mixing a variety of fruit to craft uniquely delicious things. The common thread though is a digestibility, drink-ability, and energy you find in only the finest natural wines. No nasty adds, just pure, unadulterated fruit. If you’re new to the cider game there is nowhere else to start. Enough rambling, I’ll get to the good stuff.

First, up we have Table Cider. The flagship of the range and a great starting point. This captures beautifully what real cider should be. Juicy fruit, gentle spritz, supple tannin, and a modest level of booze. This will exponentially improve any occasion with or without food.

Still Life with Quince up next. Clues in the name, a still cider blended with quince wine. So tropical it’s hard to believe something like this could come from our sorry little island. A tiny touch of sweetness is no bad thing and makes this very food-friendly, think spicy things. But for me, this makes my belly grumble for cheese. Cider and cheese is a transformative pairing. There is little else I’d rather end a boozy lunch with than a hunk of the good stuff and a refreshing bottle of cider.

Finally, we’ve got something from their Hard Rain lineup. Essentially a Piquette made from a mix of perry pears and grape skins. Not sure what any of that wine jargon means? No problem! Basically, this is the low-ABV, zero-waste beverage you didn't know you needed. Semi-sparkling the fruit here feels unmistakably English with notes of gooseberry and elderflower. Subtle, summery, and seriously smash-able. No problems taking this bottle for a solo spin either. Moderation and all that.

Finally, an actual WINE. Yup, a delicious little orange number that is both well-priced and well tasty. This is crazy tropical, seriously juicy with ALL the exotic fruit. Some of these grapes see some carbonic maceration. The fermentation you’ll often find in Beaujolais. In short, it ramps up the aromatics and makes things fruiter. I argued a lot during my WSET days about carbonic in whites. They thought it wasn’t worth mentioning, a waste of time. Well, guess who was right after all. WSET if you’re reading this, you know where to find me if you need a guest speaker! This proves it’s not a waste of time, a textbook example of the wonders it can do on white grapes.

Sorry for the chunky one today. I really love these and I hope you do too. Please do me a solid and buy ‘em, so I can buy some more. Now I gotta go, thanks to the powers of email marketing as you’re reading this I will hopefully be waiting ‘til noon so I can crack into one of the above in the sun on a random Thursday I managed to snag off. Cheers Meg.

LOVE
FIONN
XOXO