A photo essay & short video following Wilding Cider through a year of production - from winter pruning, blossom & the incredible variety of heritage cider apples in fruit, to the labour of hand harvesting each apple from the ground, milling them and pressing the juice. This isn’t mass-produced, concentrated, then rehydrated, sweetened and carbonated juice; this is an exploration of what can be made when two of the most intelligent food minds I know immerse themselves in the tradition and technique of an ancestral craft and marry it to an understanding of natural wine making.

Before making cider, Sam and Beccy ran my favourite Bristol restaurant, Birch, and have applied the same flawless attention to detail, quality and refinement in everything they do at Wilding. They produce a variety of fine ciders and perrys, as well as distil an apple and a pear spirit.