Sometimes things don’t work out how you wanted but are very nice all the same. This blend featured the best Yarlington Mill of the season (Home Orchard and Ditcheat Hill) with some lovely Stoke Red from Abbot’s Leigh and was bottled to become an ancestral method sparkling, but the cider refused to finish fermenting in the bottle and so we have a very drinkable, delicious cider with a little residual sugar and a little sediment too. Shake it to wake it or pour carefully – either way you have delicious autumnal cider for drinking at any time of year. Aromas of copper, boiled sweets, ripe apples and spice betray the high quality of the Yarlington Mill used here.

Wilding Cider are orchard cider makers and are based in Chew Magna, North Somerset. They mostly grow Somerset cider apple varieties, in traditional orchards, managing them in a careful organic way. Fruit is picked from the ground, letting the fruit mature and fully ripen before pressing, and then fermented gently and slowly with wild yeasts, no sulphites and plenty of time.

5.5% 75cl