Champagne Cider?

Nestled high on the mountains, or actually, in the undulating hills of the Fowey Estuary, our dear friend Barry has just produced an outstanding beverage. Barry has been making cider for his family and friends for the last 15 years, but has now decided to share his passion with the rest of us, his Sparkling Vintage Cider.

Dino and I HAD to see his picturesque cidery and this genius in action. So off we went to Golant. The morning was misty and ever so cold, just right for cider making.  

Barry began by explaining... "It is made with a high proportion of dessert apples, to give it that delicious ‘méthode traditionelle’ taste

The apples are just pressed, then fermented twice: first in the barrel for a year; then a second year’s fermentation in the bottle. The cider is then disgorged in the champagne style and aged further before release.  It is the secondary fermentation that gives his cider its wonderful bubbly effervescence, a method invented in the West Country for fine cider making around 1600, well before it was used in France for Champagne."
We could not believe the simplicity of it all, scrumptious apples, picked, pressed and bottled, that is it!  

Barry is now an award winning cider maker... to think, ones passion can change ones life. Must be that special Cornish country air!