A fine tipple for a summer Ploughman’s

published 1 June 2018

Gospel Green, The Original Cyder Brut, HampshireAbout £13, HawkinsBros.co.uk; TaurusWines.co.uk; TheGeneralWine.co.uk; CharliesFarmshop.co.uk; LodsworthLarder.com; CraftyPintShop.co.uk; Harveys.org.uk; Middlefarm.com; QuaffWine.com.

I started my life in the wine trade more than 30 years ago at the Barnes Wine Shop in southwest London. A rather eccentric chap called James Lane used to pop in every so often with his stunning Gospel Green cheese for us to taste. I am not sure I ate any other cheese for nearly two years!

A few years later James and his wife Cathy started producing Gospel Green sparkling cider, made in the Champagne/traditional method. I am not sure what happened to their very fine cheese, but James's cider is still my all-time favourite.

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After 24 years, in 2015, James and Cathy decided to hang up their aprons only to find a keen buyer cruising through their cellar door! James still consults to his erstwhile cider company, which is now owned by none other than Brock Bergius. Brock is an experienced drinks-industry fellow and he is also a long-time fan of this elite, hand-crafted cider.

Painstakingly produced from hand-picked apples taken from the Blackmoor Estate in Hampshire, this is the only apple-based drink on the planet to pass my sky-high standards for inclusion in this wine-soaked column.

It is also the finest summer tipple with a top level Ploughman's lunch. I will leave it to you to find a replacement for the long-lost Gospel Green cheese!

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

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.