Year 10- A decade in!!

 

A Decade of Wildling Cider

This year marks a milestone for us—10 years since I made and sold my first pint. (I never got a picture of the guy who bought the first one, but the guy who bought the second posed for me, he was a bit drunk so i am not sure he appreciated it!) 

I'm still a relative novice in this world, feeling my way through and learning the different blends that weather, terrains and variety can throw together. Most of the orchards I pick from don't have labels or maps of the trees so it's all about sampling as you go. A decade later, it’s still a labour of love, shaped by the quirks of weather, wildlife, and the never-ending surprises of cidermaking.

For the first time this year, I made something I wasn’t happy to sell. My Folly pet nat cider didn’t quite meet the standard I’d set and some of the fermentation in the bottle didn't happen. That said, it wasn’t wasted—I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it myself, and the local butchers put some into sausages: my first collab!!

On the brighter side, I’m thrilled with my second edition of Dabblin. Its a joy to pick at the orchard and the apples I took last year made a lovely blend (all now sold).

It's been another weird year for weather. A cooler, wetter summer has set the stage for a slightly lower alcohol content in next year’s cider, as the sugar levels in the apples were lower. 

Back at the orchard, it’s been bittersweet. The trees delivered a proper crop as more and more of them reach a decent size. Unfortunately, the local deer seemed to share my excitement and got to far too many of the apples before I could. This winter, we’ve been hard at work improving the tree protection, so fingers crossed for a bigger yield in the next harvest.

As I reflect on the past decade, and read back through my woefully low blog output. There's a few themes that keep coming up and are why I keep doing this; the exploration and discovery, the connection to the land and nature and, more than anything, the pleasure of making something that despite, effort to shape and craft it, always has a little bit of wild magic

Here’s to another year of cidermaking and whatever adventures 2025 brings. Cheers!