New Zealand’s Premier Cidermaker
New Zealand’s Peckham Cider is featured in this podcast episode #139. I was able to sit down with Alex Peckham at CiderCon2018 held in Baltimore, Maryland. CiderCon is the annual trade conference put on by the American Cider Association every year.
Because I live in the northern hemisphere, I have long been very curious about the apple growing and cidermaking schedule in the southern hemisphere. Here are just some of my questions.
- When is Apple Blossom season?
- How long is the growing season?
- When do they make cider?
The answers to many of these questions surprised me. For instance, unlike my region of the world (Massachusetts) where we have a very short window for growing and picking apples for cider – September to November, New Zealanders enjoy an incredibly long apple growing season.
Alex also shares tips on how he makes cider working with both cultured and wild yeast.
Alex is full of cider knowledge and an absolutely delightful man with wit and insight that helps make this chat a must listen. Who knew that hares could be such a problem in the orchard?
New Zealand’s Cidermaking Seasons
January – Summer time in New Zealand
- Thinning, cleaning and clearing of the orchard as the trees are fully laden with apple
February – Picking Cider Apples:
- Knotted Cornell
- Muscadet de Dieppe
March
- Kingston Black
- Kingston Brown
April into June
- Apple harvest continues
June
- Apple pressing begins
July
- Wassail
- Pruning of apple trees
August – September
- Pruning continues
September – October
- The south island of New Zealand experiences a long blossom time that runs through these two months
November
- Baby apples are growing on the trees
December
- The heat is back on as this region of the world is heading full steam into summer
Peckham’s Ciders
- Classic range – which have cider with fruit
- Good fruit, moderate sweetness with balanced acid, tiny bit of bitterness and astringency
- Special Release Ciders – one a month special blends
- High component of wild fermentation
Contact Peckham’s Cider
Website: https://www.peckhams.co.nz/
eMail: ac@peckhams.co.nz
No Tasting Room at this site
Imported into the US by Shelton Brothers
Mentions in this Chat
- Totally Cider Tour: Normandy France – deadline to sign up August 14th.
- September 23rd – September 29th
- Whale Rider – I highly recommend this timeless movie filmed in New Zealand that features Maori actors and their tradition.
- Visting Luxembourg? Listen to episode 129 with Carlos Hein of Ramborn Cider Co. Luxembourg.
- Heading to the UK late August? Go to the Ross Cider Fest August 31- September 2, Ross on Wye Cider and Perry, UK
- Process and Analytical NMR Services – John Edwards provides analytics of cider – stay tuned for his Chemical Fingerprints workshop coming up on Cider Chat
- When In Philadelphia stop in at Kurant Cider’s Fishtown tasting room.
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