Home Orchard 2023

Aroma in bottle is bittersharp apples, brown sugar, nutmeg, and a little funk. Something close to what you’d imagine from the platter of classic regional varieties that have gone into it - Court of Wick, Dabinett, Foxwhelp, Kingston Black, Major, Tom Putt, and Yarlington Mill. It pours chartreuse in colour, with the merest of haze and lively bubbles via the ancestral method, which quieten down quickly enough in the glass but sizzle away in the mouth. This is annoying to me, but fundamentally it’s no obstacle or distraction to enjoying the delicious and varied flavours which emerge. Attack is sharp apples; then come tingling notes of sherbet fountain and cut flowers; after that, celery leaves and spring greens; then fleeting mild cheese, before a finish which is chiefly starchy but also slightly chalky. It’s hard to perceive many elements of the mouthfeel beyond the foamy fizz, which is a shame. Development in the glass takes on a citrusy character, with lemon which tarts to grapefruit in both nose and mouth. It’s quite vinegary as a result of fresh and organic acidity. Alcohol is more present in smell than taste, and tannins are soft. This ticks all the boxes but for those wretched bubbles, and is worth laying your hands on regardless. But oh to savour this as a still!