We market 60% of our production as draught products sold direct to CAMRA beer and cider festivals across England, and direct to the consumer at food and drink festivals in the Marches.
We supply our draught products to the retail trade at wholesale prices as follows:
Draught cider @ £2.20/litre (£9.00/gallon) – purchaser to supply 5 gallon tub
Draught perry @ £2.20/litre (£9.00/gallon) – purchaser to supply 5 gallon tub
10 litre ‘bag-in-box’ @ £30.00 (inclusive of packaging)
20 litre ‘bag-in-box’ @ £55.00 (inclusive of packaging)
The advantage of the ‘bag-in-box’ is that it’s a double skin food grade
plastic bag inside a robust bio-degradable cardboard box with no risk
of spoilage.
2. Still bottled cider and perry
Each year we market small quantities of our cider and perry as still bottled products in 75cl ‘claret style’ wine bottles with cork closure and foil cap.
The wholesale price of cider/perry in this format is £3.00/75cl bottle
3. ‘Normandy Method’ sparkling cider and perry
This production method was a new venture for us in 2005. We have continued to develop and refine our process and these products are now much in demand.
We mill the fruit and then set it aside to ‘macerate’ for 16 hours before pressing. We add a special enzyme to the tank before filling with raw juice and then a small quantity of calcium chloride is added about 36 hours later. We then pump it top and bottom to create a continuous closed circulation for 30 minutes.
The result is a brown pectin-calcium gel (known as ‘Le chapeau brun’ or ‘brown hat’) which forms on the surface of the freshly pressed juice and absorbs the nitrogen and vitamins that would otherwise provide nutrient for the wild yeast.
After 10 days or more when ‘Le chapeau brun’ is well formed (it can be up to 10 cm thick and is ready when brown and ‘crusty’), a clear nutrient poor and slow fermenting juice can be racked off from underneath it. This will be suitable for final racking and bottling at a specific gravity of 10.15 after 6-9 months to produce a bottle conditioned medium to medium-dry cider/perry with a slight yeast deposit.
In 2011 we made 450 litres of our ‘Normandy method’ naturally sparkling perry and 450 litres of the cider. We expect the results will be stupendous in spring 2012, when we will release the finished products for sale. They will be available in a full weight champagne style bottle with mushroom cork and wire closure at a wholesale price of £4.50/75cl bottle for the sparkling cider (i.e. unchanged since 2008/09), and £5.50/75cl bottle for the sparkling perry.
4. ‘Champagne Method’ bottle fermented perry
We made our first ‘Champagne Method’ bottle fermented perry in 2001.
In October 2010 we laid down 285 75cl bottles of our 2009 bottle fermented ‘champagne’ perry made from the Thorn perry pear. This product had a first fermentation in barrel during autumn/winter 2009/10 and a second in bottle fermentation in 2010/11 prior to remuage and disgorging (champagne method) at Three Choirs Vineyards Ltd in January/February 2012.
The bottle format is the same as for the ‘Normandy Method’ sparkling cider and perry (as at 3. above) with the addition of a gold foil.
We expect this product to be ready to release for sale in spring 2012 at a wholesale price of £7.50/75cl bottle.
This production method was a new venture for us in 2005. We have continued to develop and refine our process and these products are now much in demand. 
In 2011 we made 450 litres of our ‘Normandy method’ naturally sparkling perry and 450 litres of the cider. We expect the results will be stupendous in spring 2012, when we will release the finished products for sale. They will be available in a full weight champagne style bottle with mushroom cork and wire closure at a wholesale price of £4.50/75cl bottle for the sparkling cider (i.e. unchanged since 2008/09), and £5.50/75cl bottle for the sparkling perry.
