It's been a long time since the last blog post...

Well, 2024 was a funny old year weather-wise. Wind and rain in May when we normally have fine weather, followed by an averagely poor summer, but compensated by a fine September and a decent picking season. All in all the crop was not too bad - reasonable quantities and sugar levels, but a bit down on what we would normally expect in an 'even' year (some of our apples are biennial and only really produce in even-numbered years). Here is one of the better days:

The Belle de Dab featured in the previous post is now all finished :( - it was really nice - a good blend of the fruity acidity of Belle de Boskoop and the depthe of Dabinett.

The good news is that we now have 'Tremletts Snout' which has good tannin levels and a fine flavour - ready to drink now but may well improve with age.

One star performer last year was Pitmaston Pine Apple - not enough for a batch by itself, but it adds a fruity 'je ne sais quoi' to the Reinettes juice (Orleans Reinette / Ribston Pippin blend).

So now to 2025... the pruning is mostly done, the winter has not been too wet, so fingers crossed for a decent year.