Skyborry Pommage Medium Sweet Cider 2019

Skyborry Pommage is a traditional style, bottle-conditioned, unfiltered medium-sweet sparkling cider. It is made by Adam and Dani Davies just outside Knighton in the Welsh Marches, using traditional cider apples sourced from the main orchard they harvest at Hawkswood Farm near Hay on Wye.

Bittersharps Stoke Red and Kingston Black, along with bittersweets Bulmer’s Norman, Chisel Jersey, and Dabinett, were blended throughout the season. Adam and Dani are big fans of Stoke Red and feel it brings great acidic quality and depth to a blend. Bulmer’s Norman is an early ripening variety, big green apples with wincing hard tannins, which sit in this blend nicely.

The fruit is pressed on their hydraulic press, and allowed to ferment and mature over the winter. At a cold point, the cider is repeatedly racked, leaving yeast and nutrients behind. Much like with keeving, this slows the fermentation almost to a halt, retaining residual sugars for natural sweetness. It is finished in the bottle, then riddled and disgorged ready for release. Pommage 2019 has a slightly lower level of sweetness than the 2018 release.

Skyborry Cider and Perry pride themselves on using minimal intervention techniques to make high-quality, natural ciders and perries in small batches from local fruit. Adam and Dani's creations are unfiltered and additive-free, using techniques such as cold racking to help retain some of the natural sweetness from the fruit.