Hungerford Park Estate cider will be House of Commons tipple

A CRAFT cider from Hungerford is to be showcased to MPs at the House of Commons.

Cider manager at Hungerford Park Estate, Marc Salter, said: "We've been invited to attend the All Party Parliamentary Cider Group Reception, being held at the House of Commons.

"The reception will take the form of a cider tasting and will showcase a wide variety of British regional ciders, including our own hand-crafted produce."

The visit will take place on Tuesday, February 7.

Hungerford Park Cider is a single estate craft cider and Mr Salter added: "Our cider is made from fresh pressed apples from the orchards at Hungerford Park.

"This may seem obvious but so many ciders are not from freshly pressed apples but from concentrate and they also have no idea where the apples come from or how they’re grown.

"We ferment 100 per cent fresh pressed apple juice – all from our single estate – in small batch, neutral tanks.

"Naturally occurring wild yeasts are incorporated to produce a slow and flavourful natural fermentation, creating a true expression of both the terroir

and the apples we use.

"After fermentation is complete, we transfer our cider to maturation tanks to age until the naturally occurring acids and tannins have rounded and smoothed to a perfect balance.

"We don’t use pesticides or fungicides which means they are grown organically.

"The apple varieties we grow are Dabinett, Michelin, Browns, Katie, Bramley and Harry Master Jerseys."

As well as cider,Hungerford Park Estate is now embarking on producing distilled apple spirit, which will be aged in oak barrels to create a spirit similar to brandy and calvados.

Artisanal cider vinegars and naturally sparkling, specialty ciders are also on the horizon.