Traditional Method Brut Vintage 2021 in Magnum

Harvest dates:  2nd-26th October.

Blend:  70/30% Eating/Cooking apples from our orchards and orchards across Northern Fife.  A small amount from Kent.

Ageing:  70% oak vinified and aged for 10 months in 2-4 year old barrels previously used in Champagne.

42 Months on lees.

Dosage:  2.9g/ltr (Cane sugar)

Other information:  pH 3.65, residual sugar 0, Total acids 4.3, 7.6% Alcohol.

2021 was a challenging vintage.  A year that saw a number of extremes.  The winter was mild and wet.  The growing season started unseasonably cold with frosts hitting as well as very unsettled and wet weather.  The summer started warm but became more and more unsettled with top temperatures sitting below the 10 year average.  Ripening occurred slowly which pushed back harvest by over 2 weeks.  August and September were wet months.  Harvest commenced on the 14th September for the early eating varieties.  The main body of eating apples were picked up to the middle of October.  We continued picking…in the rain, up until the 13th November!

At press the fruit showed good tension and an upright profile.  Due to the slightly lower overall sugar (compared to the 2020 and 2019 vintage), we chose to double the amount of oak fermentation and ageing that we use from 35% to 70%.  This created a much fuller and enriched mouthfeel and had me bounding into the cidery with a smile on my face to taste each and every barrel.  The eventual blend was also higher in eating varieties due to the tension and acidity found in all the apples globally.