Chris Shanahan: Kendell’s estate-grown cider from Orange

The rapidly growing cider market includes a proliferation of niche brands and an increased demand for products made from fresh apples and pears – not juice and sugar.

At nearby Orange, Gail and James Kendell, adopted a winery-like approach, growing and making all of their product on site.

James Kendell says they’ve planted a wide range of English heritage cider apple varieties, including Kingston Blacks. The special varieties, he says, produce better cider than eating varieties partly because of their distinctive flavours but also because they contain skin tannins and high natural acidity – important components in cider’s flavour and structure.

The diversity, he says, allows him to produce a range of ciders (see www.smallacrescyder.com.au) based on traditional English styles. The still Somerset style reviewed today, for example, combines 13 apple varieties in the full and delicious west-country style.