Dunkertons Breakwells Seeding Cider

Breakwells Seedling is a pretty rare apple discovered in Monmouth, a little town on the Welsh border, a little over a century ago. Dunkerton’s orchards just so happen to have a few of these trees and used them to make the Dunkertons Breakwells Seedling Cider.

Apple seedlings don’t really bear much resemblance to their parental plants. It’s been said that if you plant a seed from an apple there is a 1 in a million chance that it will be an apple worth keeping. A chance that George Breakwell took on an apple tree that grew from a seed. After seeing what this apple offered in terms of flavour, Breakwell took cuttings from this seedling and propagated them throughout Herefordshire. Some of these were planted in Dunkerton’s Orchards. Over 100 years later these apples, or at least grafting from the originals,  are being used in this cider. They say the Breakwells Seedling has an intense scent when the apples are ripening in the orchard, let’s see if that carries over into the cider.

The Nose

Lanolin, this is very much an English sheep paddock, as opposed to some earlier Aussie ciders that have a dusty sheering shed scent, this is just a little bit wetter. The support act is a little bit of fruity lemon. There is nothing shy here, it’s all very bold.

The Taste

Probably a little sweeter than what I was expecting but that is no bad thing. There is an interesting mix of the dank earthy tones and a solid punch of tropical fruits. The slight sweetness really highlights the Breakwells Seedling apple fruity flavour. This bottle of Dunkertons is pretty bubbly and it was busting out of the bottle when I opened it. It may have got all shook up in my back pack when I took the photos of it a few hours earlier.

The tail end is full of that near chalking tannin structure with a few bitter elements urging you to take another sip to get back to the fruitiness.

Final Thoughts on Dunkerton’s Breakwells Seedling Cider

Dunkerton’s Breakwells Seedling Cider has a very old school looking label. I think this would have looked old-fashioned when the company started in the 1980’s, It would be interesting to see how this would have looked on the shelf next to other ciders from the UK. The super heritage look may actually be a point of difference.

It’s an apple I’ve never had the pleasure to try before. I think I might plant a couple of these in my fantasy orchard. Dunkerton’s have done a fine job of making this cider. Not too dry, not too sweet, still plenty of depth. Quiet the remarkable feat considering there is just one apple in the bottle.

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