Perry's Premium Vintage Cider

I have been looking forward to this cider - Vintages seem to always be the best of a producer and I have noted that Sheppy's, Westons, Thatchers all do corking good vintage blends! Generally, however, they are dry - au naturale you could say. Perry's version is described as a medium, which although unusual I guess it may be that it needs it to get the most out of it... hmmm.

Saying that, this is a proper vintage. The cider is held in wooden barrels  for 12 months before bottling. This kind of maturation should round off the tannins and lower any acidity within the drink. I guess by doing it in wood they are aiming for am oaky flavour. Mind you, the bacteria that cause an MLF (malolactic fermentation) - the process that rounds off a cider and gives it sometimes a vanilla flavour are often more easily obtained in wooden casks than stainless steel or plastic.

One niggle. Perry's. Please drop the Premium from the name! The term premium has been so abused by supermarkets, mass produced ciders/wines/lagers - well, anything that has a marketing team attached. As far as I can tell, 'Premium' has no value and doesn't mean what it ought to mean (i.e. the best of something).

On to the drink. As with the rest of Perry's ciders so far, the initial fizz very quickly gives way to an almost flat drink. It is also a lovely golden colour, albeit bright and filtered. The smell is a lovely vintage nose though; gentle and tannic and western.

And so on to the taste. It does have a lot of body to it, mainly in the form of an excellent balance between sharp and tannin, but also the fruit is mature and, well, all the bits complement each other. This is a first rate vintage - the medium is more or less knocked dry by the tannins and you don't get a lot of sweetness back from it. This cidery taste is long and satisfying... well into the aftertaste!

Thinking about it, there is a hint of sweetness as you sip, but the drying body of the cider soon catches it up and, well, thats it. A fabulous drink and I do actually think probably top of the Vintages for me (lets just forget the premium bit eh!)

I totally recommend this cider - I must go and get another one!! It scored 93/100, so that is a gold apple for Perry's and my desert island drinks list gets a little longer:-)