A real-deal cider from a barking eccentric

Forget all the fashionable ciders, says Matthew Jukes. This Surrey cider is the real deal.

Matthew Jukes
By
published
in Features

2011 Gospel Green, Traditional Method Cyder, Haslemere, Surrey (about £8.49, General Wine Company of Liphook, 01428-727744; and of Petersfield, 01730-235923; Middle Farm Shop of Firle, 01323-811411; Quaff of Brighton, 01273-553353; Taurus Wines of Guildford, 01483-548484; Haslemere Cellar, 01428-656052; South Downs Cellars of Hurstpierpoint, 01273-833830).

When I started out in the wine trade at the Barnes Wine Shop, back in 1987, I very much enjoyed drinking a sparkling cider made by a charming chap called James Lane. It was better value than both cava and prosecco and I frankly preferred it, too. James used to drop off a few cases every week. Fast forward 26 years to the General Wine Company's wine festival in Petersfield, a few weekends ago, where I was pouring my 100 Best Australian Wines, and who should I see across the room?James hasn't changed one iota in the last two and a half decades he is still barkingly eccentric and his cider tastes amazing.

For this reason I have decided to make this the first apple-based bevvie in my wine column ever! Cider is all the rage at the moment, with mega-rich breweries launching TV adverts left, right and centre. Forget them all this is the real, artisan deal and it is handmade with skill and love.

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Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (www.matthewjukes.com).

Matthew Jukes
Matthew Jukes

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.  

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’.  He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner. 

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy.  His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.

 

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