Sheppy’s 2024 Vintage Reserve
Sheppy’s 2024 Vintage Reserve is a surprisingly wholesome cider, easy to drink but with interestingly medium tannins and low acidity. It is a great choice to introduce a lover of sweet wines to the beauty of Somerset cider.
Sheppy's 2024 Vintage Reserve at glance
- Region: Somerset, England
- Alcohol: 7.4%
- Style: Sparkling, medium
- Vintage: 2024
- Apple varieties: not specified
Tasting Notes
- See: transparent with evident carbonation; intense golden with orange amber tones near the rim, especially when you til the glass
- Smell: Intense fruit, poached apples(like a warm apple crumble).
- Taste: medium cider, with medium-low acidity and medium tannins; remarkable flavours of cooked apples with traces of alcohol, maintaining the apple crumble feeling. Medium finish with dainty traces of acetone.
Notes from the producers
Every drop of Sheppy’s is expertly crafted by David Sheppy, the sixth-generation master of Cider from one of the oldest and most distinguished cider making families in the world. Sheppy’s award winning Vintage Reserve Cider is made with the season’s very finest Somerset apples and aged in traditional oak vats.
Personal Notes on Sheppy's 2024 Vintage Reserve
I am not gonna lie, I was a little skeptical when my husband brought back home Sheppy’s 2024 Vintage Reserve cider from the supermarket. As Sheppy’s is one of the few brands of cider available in UK supermarkets, the idea in my head is that it made solely mass produced, low quality ciders. And yet…
Sheppy is one of the oldest family-owned cider producers in England, with history dating back 200 years. Sheppy bottle labels claim “Estd. 1816”, and it does give the feeling of something that has lived through many evolutions of the cider industry. Current production include a wide variety of products, from dry to sweet, all of them made without using apple juice concentrate. And this last element is what convinced me to give Sheppy’s a go – although with some products they may add sugar which I try to avoid.
The 2024 Vintage reserve is an extremely enjoyable medium sparkling cider with enough body to keep your mouth entertained for an entire 500ml bottle. With medium tannins (in some moments they feel more medium-low) and medium sweetness, this cider is easy to drink, even outside of a meal.
As much as it is called a 2024 Vintage Reserve – because it is made with apple juice only from a specific year, i.e. vintage – this cider comes across as a very palatable choice for the wide audience, perfect to introduce your friends to the world of cider without having them running for the hills, which they might tasting some of the more extreme Somerset ciders.
Food pairing
With such good energetic bubbles and a medium level of sweetness, this cider pairs well with a savoury fatty dish (the bubbles help in cleansing the palate), for example a cheese and broccoli quiche or a semi-soft/creamy goat cheese (although avoid anything too salty). Alternatively, you can also pair this cider with a cream based dessert like a tiramisu, with the dessert’s sweetness bringing out the acidity in the cider.
