Welcome to our website.
Please bear with us as we design our new site, which will offer product information, stockists,
tasting notes and online ordering. For now there is more information and pictures below:
The Once Upon A Tree product range.
We are incredibly proud to be awarded
Three First Places
at the
International Cider and Perry Competition 2008
(Producer of the Best Dry Cider, Best Medium Cider and Best Presented Cider or Perry)
Here's a photo of cider maker Simon Day with the awards!
(Thanks to the Hereford Journal for use of the photo)
Some kind words from Jamie Goode (UK wine writer) on our ciders http://www.wineanorak.com/blog/2008/10/ciders-from-once-upon-tree.html
To buy online, please see Orchard Hive and Vine here: Orchard Hive and Vine
Who / Why / When:
What happens when you let an award winning winemaker loose with the fruit of one of the
best apple orchards in the country?
New company “Once Upon A
Tree Ltd” launched its premier apple juice and cider range on 3rd May 2008
to coincide
with the Big Apple Association “Blossomtime” event in Putley, near Ledbury in Herefordshire.
Speciality food & drink enthusiasts, Ann & Norman Stanier and Hannah & Simon Day,
founded this new company through a passion to create the best quality apple juice and cider
from the highest quality fruit, whilst continuing to preserve the heritage and tradition of cidermaking
in the area.
The apples are sourced, and the juice and cider made at Ann & Norman’s Dragon Orchard
situated in the heart of the traditional apple growing area of Putley near the Marcle Ridge in
Herefordshire. With a combination of good orchard management, fantastic soils and perfect
mesoclimate,
the fruit produced is some of the best available anywhere in the UK, with the
apples attaining full
ripeness yet retaining character and flavour.
Juice and Cider maker, Simon Day is an experienced
& professional winemaker who decided
to turn his hand to cider making after walking through the
local orchards and seeing the
potential to use winemaking skills to capture the true characters of the apples
in the juice and
ciders.
Products:
Pure Apple Juice
Two apple juices are available this season, with more to follow after the 2008 harvest.
Brown’s Apple - £2.95
This cider apple variety is a bright red colour when ripe and yields a most
refreshing, clean and crisp juice with subtle apple blossom aromas.
*SOLD OUT Russet & Bramley - £2.95 SOLD OUT*
The golden juice of the wonderfully sweet and nutty flavoured,
Egremont Russet, is blended with a little fresh, crisp tasting
Bramley, to give a balanced, medium sweet, apple juice of
exceptional quality.
Cider
All our ciders are made from 100% pure apple juice, fermented by variety and blended
after fermentation. They are all 7.5% abv and all single vintage 2007.
Dabinett - £3.95
Dry aromatic, and full bodied, single varietal cider. Wonderful floral nose,
with a good grip from the tannins. Particularly good with roast pork, and
traditional English cooking.
Marcle Ridge - £3.95 - Best Dry Cider - International Cider & Perry Competition 2008
A blend of Ellis Bitter, Brown’s Apple and Dabinett, this dry cider is soft on
tannins, clean apple blossom aromatics and has excellent balance.
Putley Gold - £3.95 - Best Medium Cider - International Cider & Perry Competition 2008
An off dry style, the richness of the Dabinett, Ellis Bitter and Browns Apple
are enhanced by the soft sweetness retained in the cider, with a refreshing
balance and length to the finish.
Once Upon A Tree Glasses - £5 each or £25 for 6
Stockists (list growing daily!):
Orchard Hive and Vine are selling our ciders online, and is the best place to buy our cider mail order until we have organised our own online shop!
Llandinabo Farm Shop in Ledbury (juice only)
Hop Pocket Wines near Bromyard (full range & mail order available - should also be online soon) also offering tastings
Over Farm Market near Gloucester (full range)
Little Verzons Farm Shop near Ledbury (ciders only)
Meet us and taste the products at the Woolhope Farmers Market on the last Saturday of each month.
You're welcome to come to Dragon Orchard by Appointment Only to taste and buy.
Shows and Events
Ludlow and Abergavenney food festivals were both fantastic and our ciders and juices were very well recieved.
The Big Apple Autumn Event Oct 11th & 12th. We will have a stand at Hellens Manor House along with the big apple display and events over the weekend, and on Sunday at Dragon Orchard, we will have some apple crushing demonstrations, and cider making chat from about 12:30 onwards. See the map below for directions:
Cider Festival at the Cider Museum 18th 19th October Tastings and Sales of cider and juices at the excellent Cider Museum in Hereford
Flavours of Herefordshire Oct 25th & 26th More tastings and sales of cider and juice. We'll also know how well we did at the Flavours of Herefordshire Awards (We're finalists in the Small Drinks Producer of the Year)
Wyevale Christmas Fair Nov 22 & 23rd Tastings of ciders and apple juices.
Mail Order Coming soon!
in the mean time contact: simon@onceuponatree.co.uk
There are more photos in our gallery www.onceuponatree.co.uk/gallery