Published on The Independent on 22nd July 2021
“What happens during fermentation?”
James Marsden, the outspoken owner of Gregg’s Pit Cider & Perry in Ledbury, has thrown me yet another question – one that I suspect he didn’t really want an answer to.
I had just driven in from Goodrich, a little Herefordshire village about 20 minutes away. After repeatedly crawling along the same stretch of country lane, I finally managed to spot the un-signposted opening squeezed between two homes. Past this, and along a single-lane dirt track, was the elusive smallholding responsible for supplying fine ciders to Michelin-starred restaurants in London and beyond for upwards of £10 a bottle. But instead of a warm welcome, James has been bombarding me with questions – questions to which I just can’t seem to come up with the right answers.