Handford Wines

Somerset Cider Brandy - “The art of distilling is maturing in the orchards of Somerset” Somerset Cider Brandy evokes all the magic and mystery of the West Country’s proud cider making and apple growing traditions. ‘Swirled gently in the glass it reminds you of autumn leaves, ripe fruit, wild flowers and small villages nestling in the sunshine of the Somerset countryside’. The first written records of Cider Brandy in England go back to 1678. Over the last 15 years there has been a revival of interest, led principally by the Somerset Cider Brandy Company, which in 1989 was granted by HM Customs, the first full cider distilling license in recorded history. In the autumn, vintage cider apples, with wonderful names like Dabinett, Kingston Black, Stoke Red, Yarlington Mill and Harry Masters, are gathered, blended, pressed and the juice is then fermented in huge oak vats. After three months the cider is distilled and clear spirit, known as Eau de Vie, or the ‘water of life’, is drawn off and trickled into barrels. The barrels are either sherry barrels from Jerez or new oak barrels from Hungary and the Limousin forests of France. The barrels play a very important role in the ageing process, but it is the apples, the soil and the climate of Somerset which give our Cider Brandy it’s unique character, similar, but also very different from French Cider Brandy produced in the Calvados Region. In the barrels the spirit slowly gains colour from the oak whilst losing a small amount of alcohol through the wood - ‘the angels share’. Finally after gaining depth and mellowing for a number of years it becomes a deliciously smooth Cider Brandy. Somerset Royal is three years old, and there is a Somerset Five Year Old too. A small amount of Somerset Ten Year Old Cider Brandy is also bottled each year.

The Wine

Pass Vale Farm, romantically set just off the Someset levels in the village of Kingsbury Episcopi, is the home of Josephine and Fifi, two gas fired stills capable of distilling 2,000 gallons of cider a day. Proprietor Julian Temperley started this venture in the late 1980's the farm also producing very good traditional cider from many ancient cider apple varieties. The resulting "calvados" style product is deliciously fruity and lively. It is interesting to speculate what would have happened if Henry the Eigth had't dissolved the monastries. The monks as so often in France may well have got round to distilling apples many centuries ago. This is a fine truly English product which is helping to preserve many ancient apple varieties at a time when many orchards are being grubbed .

Single Bottle: £11.99

In a case of 12: £11.39