OUR
CIDERS
TRADITIONAL DEVON CIDER
Single bottle £11.49
Case of six £62.67
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Our Traditional Devon Cider is a dry to medium dry gratifyingly complex cider. Typical of the traditional ciders for which devon is rightly famous. A careful mix of the natural sweetness and dry tannins of our traditional cider apple varieties grown here on our devon farm. Cider apples, unlike dessert apples, cannot be enjoyed raw. Tasting one, in an orchard, is a never forgotten lip puckering, dry mouthed experience. However, under the care of a skilled cidermaker this harshness becomes character and depth, that sets real cider apart from the pale, poorer, sort made from just desert apples. In the same way, a red wine grape cannot grace a table, until it has been transformed into a quality wine in the hands of a talented wine maker; the same applies to our home grown Ellis Bitter, Dabinette and Michelin cider apples. They undergo a transformation, brought about with authentic craft cider making skills and ageing to produce a subtle and well-rounded cider that we hope you will agree is hard to resist.
6.0% ABV 750 ml
HENRI MICHELIN
Single bottle £11.49
Case of six £62.67
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Medium Sparkling single variety cider 6% ABV
The cider apple, Michelin, was raised in Normandy in the mid-1800's. it was named after m.Henri Michelin, a noted french pomologist of the time. Michelin became very popular in the uk following its introduction in the 1880's, it has a delicate flavour and is a late ripener. Hasty folk often harvest them before their golden colour and delicate pink blush announce that they are fully ripe, giving Michelin an unfair reputation for blandness. this single variety cider is made from Michelin harvested in January 2019 and then keeved in the traditional Devonshire manner. It has kept some original sweetness but not too sweet, with earthy, oak, lime and cut grass on the nose and a slight resinous edge. Juicy fruit on the palate but with a touch of smoke. Rounded tannins on a finish that just keeps going
100%fresh apple juice, no nasty modern flavourings no concentrate. Just fresh pressed cider from the apples grown on our farm
6.0% ABV 750 ml
DEVON GOLD
Single bottle £11.49
Case of six £62.67
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Sweet Sparkling cider 5% ABV
Small quantities of gold have been found on Solland Farm for many years. but, despite tantalising traces, no large gold deposit has ever been found. Each year a few hopeful prospectors come and pan for gold in our stream, some find some, some none. Whatever their luck, they take away a bottle or two of our delicious Devon cider and agree that they’ve found gold after all.
Devon Gold is rightly named, a rich golden fully sweet cider that delights the eyes and the taste buds. Sparkling, sweet and full of heady apple aromas.
We always think that we are really harvesting sunshine when we bring in the autumn apples for luscious Devon Gold.
Pour a glass of Devon Gold and sip the taste of summer.
100% fresh apple juice, Sampford Courtenay Cider Handmade Devon Cider, made entirely from the apples grown on our farm.
Home Grown from Blossom to Bottle.
5.0% ABV 750 ml
WARHORSE
Single bottle £9.99
Case of six £54.49
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6.5% ABV 750 ml
During the Great War, horses were a vital part of the war effort. Like the men who served with them, they endured great hardships and dangers both fighting at the front and toiling behind the lines. A horse was killed or injured for every two human casualties. At the peak of the war it is estimated that a 1000 horses a day were arriving on the Western Front from all over the British Commonwealth. 480,000 came from the British Isles.
On Solland farm, a bay pony called Olive was requisitioned by the army, to play her part with the BEF in 1914. With tears and sorrow Olive the pony was taken to Sampford railway station and from there, by train, to France. What became of Olive was never known, but she was always remembered by her young owner.
Sampford Courtenay Warhorse Cider is made to reflect how cider was made in Devon in 1914. The cider is not filtered through a machine, but racked twice before it finishes fermenting and is then bottled without pasteurizing. The last of the natural sugars slowly ferment in the bottle adding natural condition and a fine haze that soon settles to the bottom of the bottle leaving the cider clear.
REVENGE
Single bottle £12.90
Case of six £70.36
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Grenville's Revenge keeved cider.
Naturally Sweet Lightly carbonated cider 5% ABV
Born in Bideford in Devon, Sir Richard Grenville was a friend and contemporary of Sir Frances Drake. He achieved lasting fame at the Battle of Flores in 1591. Heavily outnumbered by over 50 Spanish ships, the British fleet retired, all except Sir Richard who attacked, in the Revenge.The battle raged for 15 hours, damaging much of the Spanish fleet. Finally the Revenge, with Sir Grenville mortally wounded, was forced to surrender.
Our Naturally Sweet cider is made using a traditional Devonshire method described by Robert Fraser in 1795. Freshly pressed apple juice is repeatedly racked from the lees, to arrest fermentation, leaving behind some natural sweetness in the cider. No sweetener of any kind is added.
5.0% ABV 750ml cork and wire
5.0% ABV 750 ml
LIGHTNING JACK
White cider was invented in Devon, as a premium cider, made from the low tannin apple varieties native to the county. it was exceptionally strong if allowed to
ferment to dryness. a clean & crisp, uncomplicated cider.
Lightning jack is made from Bramley's Seedling apples, a variety perhaps not
thought of as Devonian, but grown here at Solland since the end of the 19th century. We have a tree thought to be one of the oldest surviving Bramley 's Seedling trees in the UK.
We hope that lightning Jack will re-introduce you to the enjoyment of the original premium cider concept.
Each bottle of this hand made limited edition cider is individually numbered
Single bottle £9.99
Case of six £54.49
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8.0% ABV 750 ml
LONGHOUSE
Single bottle £9.99
Case of six £54.49
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6.0% ABV 750ml
Although not exclusive to Devon, the ancient longhouse has evolved in the county into the more elaborate building that is now so much part of today’s Devon landscape. Some examples are still working farms but many have now become normal homes, hotels or bed and breakfast establishments.
The early longhouses were simple, one storied affairs that offered accommodation for both the farmer and his livestock.
In its basic form the longhouse was of two rooms divided by a cross passage. To one side of the passage, ‘above’ was the hall where there was a fire and where the people lived. On the other side of the passage, ‘below’ were the cattle in their shippon, heads to the outside walls and a dung channel down the middle with a drain hole at the lower end. Longhouses were more often than not built lengthwise down a gentle slope to aid drainage and this helps to explain the use of the words ‘above’ and ‘below’ the passage. Cattle and men shared the same entrance into the passage with a wall or screen on the upper side through which a door entered into the hall. On the lower side the entrance to the shippon was often open.
Our own delightful Devon longhouse nestles in the middle of fifty acres of traditional cider orchards and from this rural idyl, we craft a cidermaker's cider that would grace the finest tables. Crisp, ripe apple sweetness is cut with palette cleaning acidity and lingering complex tannins. A cider true to its roots in Devonshire cider making traditions.