Bearing fruit (From Free Press Series)

Bearing fruit

Across Wales the old tradition of cider and perry-making is undergoing a revival thanks to a small band of enthusiasts.

Among them is Cardiff high school teacher Dave Matthews, founder of the Welsh Cider Society, who makes about 750 gallons of cider and perry a year, mainly from fruit gathered in Monmouthshire.

Dave is also identifying old Welsh varieties of cider apple and perry pear and hopes one day to see the establishment of a museum orchard.

"Years ago farmers provided cider as part payment for their workforce. Travelling cidermakers went from farm to farm and the best cider attracted the best workers," Dave explained.

"What I like about cider is that it's a truly local drink which puts you in touch with the countryside in its seasons."

The cider-making revival began in the 1980s and there are now about 15 producers in Wales - the only people using Welsh varieties of anything to make alcoholic drinks.

"We're coming across many old varieties of cider apple and perry pear and getting a fantastic range of flavours, aromas and colours.

"Cider apple trees only live for a hundred years and a lot of varieties have died out. Of those that remain many can't be identified. But we're conserving what we can by taking cuttings to a nursery at Llandeilo.

"Monmouthshire was once covered in orchards. I discovered some of the remaining ones just driving around the lanes. I also received 15 replies to an ad I placed in a local paper."

The fruit collected by Dave and his pickers is taken to Ross-on-Wye for milling and pressing and the juice fermented in tanks wherever Dave can make space. Made from 100 percent apple juice, two pints of real cider is roughly equivalent to seven pints of lager!

Perry is made in the same way but the citric acid in the fruit gives it a winelike flavour.

One of its keenest exponents is Dr Mike Penney, a pathologist at the Royal Gwent Hospital.

Mike and his wife Pip live at Earlswood where they produce around 4,500 litres of cider and perry a year - named Troggi Seidr after the nearby brook.

Mike specialises in whole juice dry cider and perry but is particularly interested in developing 'bottle conditioned perry' using the same process as champagne.

Mike has converted a wood shed into a cider house and installed his own press and mill.

Earlswood was within a cider-producing area and Mike collects fruit from redundant orchards in the Raglan/Trellech area. He has also planted his own cider apple and perry pear trees.

"There are probably 200-300 perry pear trees in Monmouthshire today, but that's only about one percent of what once existed.

"Standard perry pear trees can live for 300 years and grow as big as oaks, but we've planted half standard varieties which only reach 25ft and produce their first fruit after three years. I've also started grafting cuttings on to root stock. It's a much cheaper option."

Mike uses an 1890 two-screw Workman's press - a type once commonly in service in Monmouthshire and Hereford.

Milled pulp is folded up in woven polypropelene cloths on the press, with an ash slat between each layer until it reaches 15 milling-stops (known as 'a cheese').

The press has two giant screws which are geared together to wind down a heavy beam.

"We press about two tons in a day, which produces 240 gallons of apple juice and slightly more of pear.

"Operating the press requires several people and it's very hard work - but it's become a bit of a social event here every autumn!"

The cloudy, sweet juice is transferred to a fermentation tank and left to settle for a day.

"Apples and pears are covered in wild yeast which you need to kill off with a weak sulphur dioxide solution (sulphiting). Meanwhile I make up a yeast culture with champagne yeast and add this to the tank to start the fermentation.

"After four months it's ready to drink - but if you're bottling it you need to pass it through a plate filter." Making sparkling or 'bottle-conditioned' perry involves a second fermentation procedure.

"To fizz it up you either need a carbonation plant - which is totally impractical for small producers - or you 'champagne' it."

Filtered, still perry is poured into champagne bottles, injected with yeast and sugar/syrup, sealed with standard beer caps and laid down for a year.

"The fizz created by the secondary fermentation disappears in six to eight weeks, the yeast settles and the perry autolises, which gives it added flavour and body."

Naturally sparkling perry produced in this way costs about £4 a bottle - and tastes wonderful!

Mike confesses he has a preference for perry over cider. "It's a classy drink and it's nice to be involved in its revival."

The Normans introduced cider-making into England around the 13th century and by the 14th it had reached Herefordshire and Wales.

The Welsh mountains prevented the spread of orcharding much beyond the south-east, but sheltered valleys allowed cider culture to extend inland as far as Brecon along the Usk and Builth Wells along the Wye.

For centuries Welsh farmers made cider and perry as part payment for their workforce. When 20th century industrialisation led to a decline in agriculture, cider and perry-making started to die out and by the late 1950s the presses had fallen silent.

But many of the orchards remain and new cidermakers are reviving the tradition.

In 2003 the Welsh Cider Society received CAMRA's Pomona Award for its 'outstanding work raising the profile of Welsh Real Cider and Perry; encouraging planting and identifying old varieties of trees.' For further information log on to www.welshcider.co.uk