WINEMAKERS CIDER CO GOULBURN VALLEY GRANNY SMITH CIDER

GRANNY Smith is presumed to have cultivated a wild, green apple in 1868 in Eastwood, now a Sydney suburb. Australia is not necessarily world-famed for its apples, but this is one of our own, proudly native, usually used for cooking but also good eating. They are tart, acidic and best eaten with healthy teeth when lightly chilled and the skin is green, when they are crisp, juicy and refreshing. They are also full of healthy anti-oxidants and low in calories.

They have translated well to this cider which retains all the complex characteristics of the apple from which it is derived, but with a slight sweetness not always present in the source fruit. There are no overwhelming yeast notes as some ciders have. Pours well and clear with a light head.

Like all good ciders it is best served cold, and it goes well with a labourer’s lunch of pork pie and pickled onions, or a ploughman’s lunch, a repast of strong, bitey cheddar, crusty bread, smoked ham off the bone and pickles, best taken after a long morning cutting lucerne by hand.

At 5 per cent alcohol by volume it is comfortably soporific and well suited to an after lunch nap in the shade of a tree. As cutting lucerne by hand in the sun tends to encourage.

Produced by Winemakers Cider Company from apples from Goulburn Valley, Victoria, Australia.

A great summer quaffing cider, retailing for around AUD$9 for a 750ml green-glass champagne bottle with a crown seal. Recommended.

/Ross Eastgate