A quiet pint in a London pub changed the face of a farm a few hours’ drive south of Sydney forever. When the founders of Pomologist Cider tasted a real cider in London they knew they wanted to make cider. Pomologist’s 2015 is the result.
Returning to Australia they bought a farm, formally a dairy, in the Southern Highlands. Walking around their new purchase they found some old apple trees, reckoned to be planted back in 1877. These may be some of Australia’s oldest apple trees or the oldest I know about.
The Pomologits team run their orchard in a Biodynamic fashion. They were even certified organic back in 1999, then biodynamic in 2010. Biodynamics is similar to organic practices but goes a little further and looks at the orchards almost as one super organism. The orchard creates a home for the insects, the insects protect the trees from other pests and some diseases. The goal is making the orchard replicate a natural ecosystem.
The trees are planted out on espaliers, basically a grapevine style trellis for the apple trees. The advantage of this system is that it provides a high yield in a limited space. It also makes it easy to hand pick the apples as the trees are now effectively 2 dimensional.
The Nose
The first thing that hits you is a pleasant astringency of an apple cider vinegar. There is a low hum of yeast and the fruitiness of the bitter sharp apples and sour cherries.
The Taste
This cloudy amber cider is extremely bubbly. Opening the plastic cork, the cider was bursting out. The bubbles keep on, all the through the bottle. Dark sour fruit scream out with astringency. The Pomologist Cider is noticeably tannic but not overblown. It’s extremely textural, rough bubbles and a dry as a dirt road. The finish is long and full of aftertaste as a crisp apple tartness
Final Thoughts on the Pomologist 2015 Cider
Pomologist don’t add any sulphites to their ciders. Something normally used as a preservative. Nothing here alludes to the baked apple or caramel, a typical sign of an aged cider. I do wonder if the Apple Cider Vinegar scent is a side effect of the lack of sulphites. Maybe that scent is by design because it does add a sharpness not often seen. I’d like to see most ciders without sulphites. In fact, I often get people asking about low / no sulphite ciders and I would not hesitate to recommend this cider to those people.
Product | Pomologist 2015 Cider |
Company | Pomologist |
Sweetness | Medium Dry |
ALC/VOL | 6.8% |
Website | pomologistcider.com.au |
Country of Origin | Australia |
Region | Southern Highlands, New South Wales |