Just used AI to find the earliest written record of the apocryphal story that Napoleon said perry was the English champagne. And the reference is only 20 years old! The Independent newspaper of 2005 by Mark MacKenzie. Any earlier references fellow sleuths? #perry #cider #History #Napoleon

Choke pear is a colloquial name for astringent and hard-to-swallow fruits that are used for perry or pear cider. Common examples of include certain cultivars like Moorcroft also known as Stinking Bishop for its strong smell and taste when ripe. #perry #pear #Moorcroft

Charles Martel is a perry aficionado farmer & cheese maker in England. “They’re important for the countryside because they soften the climate by acting as a windbreak You don’t get swallows in a cornfield; you get swallows in orchards, which should be grazed by cattle”. Photo Hartpury Heritage Trust

New disgorging set up. Cooling refrigerators out of sight set at 5C, neck freezer to the left in picture set at -27C, blue disgorging bin to its right then the pressure stabiliser and device to add lost cider to its right and finally the re capper just out of picture. Work flow simpler. #disgorging

The perry pears we call Carterton. Small and bullet hard at present they are only a little larger at harvest. Moderate tannins, very high sugars. I now have 2 trees bearing fruit, after 1 last year just died. It was healthy, cropped then just died. I have grafted on a few more. #pears #perry

The sort of visitor you don’t want at an orchard and cidery. The Australian bushtail possum Trichosurus vulpecula! This is a close up of of one of its paws as it climbed over the security camera. The traps are set with ripe apples, hope will catch it soon before it destroys an apple tree. #possums

I must have disturbed this Wētā in Beau Vista orchard. I was sitting down for a cuppa and it crawled onto my head. They are not the prettiest but harmless. They have claws that make them hard to dislodge. The tree wētā or pūtangatanga Wētāpunga is god of ugly things #weta #NewZealand #apple #cider

A heads up folks. RNZ will be airing an interview I gave on cider tomorrow at around 9:20am. 😊 They thought it was a ‘great yarn’. I certainly had fun and sat in the chair where Morning report is recorded! #RNZ #radio #cider #cidertalk

Last week we have had stunning sunsets. Wairarapa is basking in a heat wave of hot air from Australia. Can’t complain! #sun #summer #sunset

Summer in the Wairarapa valley (so named by an early Māori explorer Haunui “glistening waters” for the sunlight reflecting of the lake) is not the same without sunflowers. These ones are grown by a farmer in the next village of Greytown or Hūpēnui #sunflowers #summer #wairarapa

1st fruit on our Flower of Kent apple tree at Beau Vista orchard This was from scion wood from a tree at DSIR at Seaview Wellington They were gifted scion wood by the British Department of Scientific and Industrial Research as part of the International Geophysical Year 1957 because of Isaac Newton

Winston Churchill got his doctor Otto Pickhardt to write him a note allowing him consume unlimited alcohol while visiting the United States during Prohibition on January 26, 1932 whilst convalescing after being hit by a car in New York in December 1931. #alcohol #Churchill

Self-heal is an accidental import growing in shaded grass throughout NZ and Beau Vista orchard. It has square stems, opposite leaves & purple flower spikes. Native to Europe it has a long history in traditional medicine, earning its name. #orchard #plants #apples #SelfHeal #sheep

The promise of a good harvest to come, approximately 8 weeks away. #cider #apples #orchard #NZCider #harvestdriven #notfromconcentrate

The ‘hell hole of the Pacific’ In 1833 the grog-sellers were beginning to feel the alcohol fuelled disorder in Kororäreka, required (sic) of Busby that 'no Member be allowed to undersell any other with respect to spirituous Liquors’ This may have been NZ’s first attempt at “big Alcohol“ lobbying.

Just finishing a riddling run in the Roto-Jolly. A week of action sending the yeast to the neck. This is a trial run of half or 375ml method bottles. A BIG shoutout to @kevin_ormond what troubleshooted an electronic failure in the controls. #methode #cider #halfbottles #cidery

“Still life with apples and pear” was painted by Matias Quetglas a Spanish realist painter He was born in Ciudadela in 1946. He made his first exhibition at the age of eighteen in his hometown and then moved to Madrid where he entered the School of Fine Arts. #Spanish #painting #apples #pears

Teepee Cider Trevor and Frances wish all our customers and cider drinkers nearby and far afield a very Happy New Year for 2026. May your apples and pears blossom. 🌸 #apples #pears #cider #perry #methode

Well New Zealand certainly had a weather bomb for Christmas. Pretty well the whole of the country. In the Wairarapa we escaped perry lightly and no damage. Just rain but no high winds No flooding And the rain was welcome as I have been irrigating the new pear orchard. #wairarapa #weather #summertime

Disturbed this beauty today when washing out barrels The NZ common gecko. Geckos or Moko pāpā eat live insects such as slaters flies and caterpillars Mainland geckos are preyed on by introduced pests -stoats, cats, hedgehogs. I have seen a resurgence of geckos since trapping pests around the orchard

Evening is a lovely time in the orchard. Cooler after the hot sunny day. The Piwakawakas flitting about after insects. The sheep content and the days end and the apples and pears filling out. The Spring growth of the grass sward slowing. #orchard #apples #pears #NewZealand #evening

The oldest original apple trees in NZ were probably planted by Captain John Howell in 1853 in Riverton/Aparina Southland He was a whaler later politician These were discovered by Robyn Guyton on her quest to help rescue Southland regions heritage fruit trees #apples #Southland #NewZealand #Aotearoa

In recognition of nature. It snowed/hailed in the South Island/Te Waipounamu, Aotearoa yesterday! Yes mid summer, so here is a photo of apple trees midwinter in Austria . Photo credit - Gerald Berghammer

Wētā are native insects of NZ. They are giant flightless crickets. This is one I disturbed collecting in apples. Wētā are preyed on by introduced pests - rats cats hedgehogs and some are now critically endangered. They live in holes in our apple trees where rot has set in. #weta #apples #orchard

Merry Christmas. Virgin and Child under an Apple Tree is an oil painting from 1530 by the German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder. The painting is in State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Cranach was the court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career. #art #apple #Christmas

T’is the night before Christmas 1895 and the snow lay deep and crisp and even all round Éragny in northern France. Camille Pissarro painted it from his studio with the nearby village of Bazincourt visible in the background.  #apples #appletree #France #art #painting

Channeling the winter Christmas theme here is a painting by Judith Yarrow, an English artist based in Cotswolds. Pruning the apples trees. #apples #painting #winter #Christmas

How to make a confectionary Rudolph! 🤣 Well he will be getting ready to deliver presents very soon to those cider makers who make proper ciders this year. Hopefully news of a change in regulations. #cider #fulljuicecider #notfromconcentrate #seasonalcider #harvestdriven

There is a long tradition of using apples as Xmas decorations stemming from medieval Paradise Plays where they symbolised the forbidden fruit Paradise trees often fir morphed Xmas trees in UK when Prince Albert introduced German Christmas traditions. The apples morphed into Christmas decorations.

The bull or spear thistle at Beau Vista Orchard It native to of Europe but is now common in NZ in fields and gardens The spines on its leaves and stem can easily penetrate gardening gloves Not eaten by our sheep but its purple flowers are popular with bees butterflies and other pollinators. #thistle

What a change 10 years make. Back in 2014 we planted a beech hedge on the roadside of Beau vista cider orchard. #hedge #beech #orchard #apple #cider

I was talking to a young reporter about cider who hadn’t heard of Acker Bilk famous for his hit Stranger on the Shore Whilst finding her a link I came across a cider song of his Recorded with Norman Candler Strings I hadn’t heard of them but my parents would have History lost in time 😢 #History

The structure of an apple is deceptively simple skin flesh and core but derives from different parts of the flower The core is the true fruit with the seeds contained in the hard carpel cases The vascular chanels from the petals separate the core from the flesh of the hypanthium #apple #anatomy

What a difference of 10 days of summer makes. These grafts are growing well after getting established. I bind electrical tape over the grafting tape as a splint to the graft as birds seem to like perching on the scion wood! Wobbles before the union becomes strong is not good #grafting #pear #orchard

Yesterday was a picture perfect day in Wairarapa ( glistening water in Māori), hot, blue skies and no wind. Sprinklers going in the new orchard. Perfect weather for apple growth. #orchard #apples #Wairararapa #NewZealand #Aotearoa

Yesterday TeePee Cider hosted the Cyclotek Christmas party at the orchard A cider talk, cider tasting and a walk in the orchard before lunch and games. A great time was had. Come on a coach or the train from Wellington #hosting #Xmas #fun #orchard #cider #party #games #cidertalk

A pear called Alex. A few years ago Alex Peckham and I swapped scion wood of perry pears. This is one from him now growing at Beau Vista orchard in Wairarapa. There is going to be a good crop this year. Might be able to make a Single Vintage RIP Alex your legacy continues #perry

I often get asked how many apples in a bottle of cider? According to AI it takes 36 apples to produce 1 gallon of cider. But of course it depends on size of apples and extraction in your scatter and press. Our rack and cloth press has about 70% juice extraction from our cider apples #cider #apples

Apple picking linocut by Christopher Wormell, a prolific English printmaker. He had no formal training as an artist, but worked as a road-sweeper, rubbish collector & postman. He bought a set of engraving tools and taught himself. A natural, he has won many awards. #art #apples #harvest #linocut

This little beauty of a perry pear we call Carterton as it was found on a farm in Carterton district Probably a wilding of good age maybe 100 years old I took scion wood a few years ago and grafted onto Beurre Hardy rootstock The juice is tannic and a high sugar content. Good flavours. #perry #pears

Anna Syperek is a Canadian artist She graduated in painting & printmaking from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1980. The inspiration for her painting comes from an intuitive rapport with her own surroundings, in and about the town and countryside of Antigonish. #apples #painting

Tom Putt apples growing at Beau Vista. First noted in Devon in Cornwall Notes and Queries Tom Putt apple was named for an 18th C Thomas Putt of Combe in Devon. However in The Apples of England HV Taylor said it’s his nephew the Rev. Thomas Putt of Trent in Dorset who developed it. #apples #cider

Thorndon Fair was a blast this year. A lot of customers wanted dry cider not the sweet supermarket industrial ciders. Our award winning ciders were well received. We sold out! Last year we didn’t. #cider #NZCider #festival #wellington

Two views of Beau Vista orchard. Now in full leaf and the apples and pears growing. Here's hoping for good weather this Summer to build on the good Spring we have just had. Luckily the bad winds in late Spring did not affect the trees. #orchard #cider #NZCider #wairarapa #Aotearoa

This Spring’s perry pear grafts have taken Loving seeing the buds that have spent an extra couple of months in dormancy in the fridge come to life This is called Carterton Now to wait a few years for fruit. Grafting is not for an old man, luckily I’m just a youngster! #perry #grafting #orchard #pear

A great book about the great book. And the illustration of the Loddington apple graduates from plate XX to the front cover albeit upside down! Illustration by Alice Blanche Ellis. #apples #books #illustrations

Plants of Beau Vista orchard the Sow Thistle an introduced annual in NZ from Europe With a hollow stem, milky sap & yellow flowers it looks like a giant dandelion The sharply pointed leaves on the stem alternate. It has a high nutrient content but tends to outgrow other pasture plants #thistle

Teepee Cider is situated in the rich agricultural Wairarapa agricultural valley separated by a steep mountain range from Wellington. Transport was either a treacherous road or fell railway. Then in 1955 a game changer tunnel was built. Photo op laying the rail outs the Remutuka tunnel photo #NZR

Plants of Beau Vista orchard The dandelion is common wildflower with their bright yellow flowers and distinctive jagged leaves often considered a weed  Originally from Europe they are now widespread globally, including in NZ and are an important source if nectar and pollen for pollinators like bees.

Welcome to the meristem! A botanical term you may not have heard It is a group of stem or pluripotential cells at the growing tip of shoots & roots The term was first used in 1858 by Swiss botanist Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli in his book Contributions to Scientific Botany and forms leaves flowers etc