So far it's been twenty months in the making. Apples picked and aged, milled and macerated, keeved, fermented, then bottled. All of that and there's still 6 months until it's finished.
This is single variety, spontaneously keeved, methode traditional, petillant naturel sparkling Bramley Cider.
That's a lot of cidery buzz-words there and for deeper knowledge on those have a dig around on the internet. Suffice it to say that we've turned, or are, more correctly, turning what is a terribly unfashionable apple for making cider into what will be a relatively low strength sparkling wine-like cider.
The final stage is to get the sediment out, and that is what is happening in this picture. The filled bottles are placed upside down in the pupitre rack, where they will be riddled (agitated and turned) several times a week for at least 3 months. The reason for this is to get the sediment into the bottle top from where it can be disgorged towards the end of the process.
This is slowly made cider, involving many small but natural processes.
The finished cider will be deep, complex, sparkling.
Hopefully available by Christmas for that extra special celebration, you can get it in 375ml and 750ml bottles.
Something a bit special, I think.