Duchy Originals Organic Herefordshire Cider

They don't do names by half at Duchy Originals for Waitrose do they?  The full monika for this one is 'Organic Herefordshire Reserve Dry Cider'. And breathe:-)

I love the way that this cider is in a 750ml bottle. The idea of sharing a bottle of cider fits well with how I see the drink. Its also a clear bottle, so you can see the golden fluid before its even open. Very inviting and warming too. I think Duchy have the packaging side of things nailed - classy clear label. So its just the name that tries a little too hard to cover all possible bases!

It may come as a shock and surprise to realise that Aston Manor make this cider for Waitrose under the name of Duchy Originals. I am not sure whether this is Aston Manor making it for Duchy who then supply it to Waitrose. It would fit in with the name for it to be three or even four parts removed... makes it much longer:-)

OK. This cider is low carbonation, golden and very bright. It looks really good actually. There is little smell from it however - although what there is smells just about right for a Hereforshire cider made from bittersweet/sharp fruit.

And it is a really nice cider. A good taste of fruit with a moderate body and tannin to it. There is acid too; understated but nicely balanced. And the aftertaste is as the taste - balanced, if a little short.

I guess if there is one criticism I would make of this cider, it is that it follows the rules a little too closely. Sure, its got character - but its a fairly ubiquitous Herefordshire character that is competent. Mind you, that fits with its classic and high end bottle, label and price. Its a civilised cider.

It scores 74 and earns a bronze medal.

Duchy Originals Herefordshire Vintage Cider

A Duchy Originals from Waitrose this one. OK, not quite. Its a cider produced for them, this time by a "family owned Herefordshire Cider Maker, established in 1880". Not much research required there then. Its on their home page. Its even in one of their bottles:-)

So, in the spirit of my review yesterday of the M&S cider, I have now gone back through the reviews and marked up the Weston's made ciders - which includes Sainsbury's (again). Well, before anyone starts to moan about how they didn't make it themselves just ask yourself this: would you want them to make it? No, me neither.

A big feature of Duchy products is their organic status. Yet another thing I could become a G.O.M. about (Grumpy Old Man for the uninitiated). It has all the labels and logo's you could want, but I can't help thinking "is this Weston's Organic relabelled?" Sorry, Weston's Organic isn't anymore is it... Weston's Wilde Wood (not sure if the e is actually correct, but it ought to be eh:-)

Now, this is a nice golden coloured cider, with a pleasant aroma. Forgetting about the organic bit (it really is much the same thing, honest!) the first thing one has to do is admire how positively clear this cider is! I have seen the numerous sheet filters at Westons and wondered why they use so many. This cider just about glows with it's brightness! Its also fairly well carbonated too - another fairly standard feature of most Westons.

Its a good cider though. OK, perhaps a tiny bit on the watery side compared to some I have tried recently. But the flavour is there and it is satisfying. Its well balanced too - mild tannin (pretty mild but not invisible) offsets the reasonably prominent acid and creates a good taste. A little engineered, but good. The aftertaste is good too, and pretty long as well.

Organic Vintage doesn't declare what is it, but I would say its a medium dry, and being a touch 'juicy' I would also say its seen some apple juice and pasteurisation.

All in all, not a bad cider. It scores 65/100 which, although its not an apple, is not a bad score either.  If you are interested, Westons Organic (as it was then) scored 60; so the two are pretty comparable. Maybe this one just caught me in a better mood (which just shows how subjective reviews really are!)