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Mark Woodman
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| This is our Product Range |
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| 2011 Vintage |
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After another cold winter when the trees enjoyed full
dormancy, April was calm, exceptionally warm and dry. The perry pears
responded with a glorious show at blossom time and when we walked the
orchards in mid-summer the fruit set appeared to confirm our
expectation of a massive crop like in 2009.
But it turned out to be another year of surprises (when did we last
have a ‘normal’ year?) and by early September we found the Thorn perry
pears were ripening so fast we had to ‘use them or lose them’ – we
pressed 800 litres on 10 September which was 2 weeks earlier than we
have made perry from this variety in the last 17 years.
All other varieties of perry pears and cider apples were ripe and ready
to press at least a week earlier than usual. Grass was scarce so the
cattle stayed longer in the orchards and they ate 2 tonnes of Gregg’s
Pit (our ‘home’ perry pear variety) and Butt perry pears. We also lost
a tonne of Flakey Bark perry pears because they became over-ripe whilst
we focused our efforts on harvesting an abundant crop of Kingston Black
cider apples at home and in our neighbours’ orchards – we continue to
learn and will prioritise better next year!
As in previous years, many friends and family helped with all aspects
of the cider and perry making process. Benign weather over The Big
Apple harvest time weekend of 8-9 October brought hundreds of visitors
to watch and lend a hand as we pressed 1.5 tonnes of cider apples and
perry pears. Fruit sugar was higher than in any of the last five years,
so the fully fermented products promise to be full bodied and high in
alcohol. Our total production was 3970 litres (a small increase on
2010), of which there are 2350 litres of perry and 1620 litres of
cider. |
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| Varieties | Cider/Perry | Pressed | OG | PH
|
Litres |
Thorn
| Perry | 10.09.11
| 1060 | 3.5
|
800 |
Gregg's Pit, Aylton Red & Blakeney
| Perry | 01.10.11
| 1066 | 3.6
|
800 |
Brandy, Barnet & Winnals Longdon (NM)
| Perry
| 08.10.11 | 1055 | 3.9
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450
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Blakeney, Butt & Oldfield
| Perry
| 23.10.11 | 1062 | 4.2
| 300
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Browns Apple, Kingston Black & Sweet Coppin
| Cider | 09.10.11 | 1072 | 3.6
| 350 |
| Kingston Black - single variety
| Cider | 15.10.11 | 1072 | 3.6
| 600 |
Brown Snout, Chisel Jersey & Dabinett (NM)
| Cider | 29.10.11 | 1062 | 3.9
|
450 |
Dabinett, Kingston Black & Yarlington Mill
| Cider | 05.10.11 | 1065 | 3.8
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220 |
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| TOTAL |
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3970 |
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(NM) = Normandy Method
Our products, prices and product
availability in 2012/13
HERE...
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