One shot to harvest. One shot to ferment – there’s a value in that which real cider fans will appreciate and look forward to.

And the harvest goes on.

So it is that the annual apple harvest is underway and has been for many a cider maker since September. Day after day of hand gathering or machine picking.

But do folk know what’s going on behind the scenes or the efforts that go into the harvest?

Last year there was a flurry of media coverage as a result of the bumper crops. News channels and publications filled their pages. Countryfile visited Westons and Artistraw to witness the polar variation of harvest for a commercial producer against the artisan approach. It observed the noise and clamour, the scale and science of industrial cider from commercial orchards and the gentle, immersive craft of natural fermentation from heritage orchards.

This year there has been less hype. Some acknowledgment of the summer climate suggesting fruit sugars will be higher this year (there has been a general upward nudge on the scale but terroir and variety play a significant role here). Cider drinkers we chat to seem to understand the yield is lower this year; again, a combination of factors at play here. How these elements affect the cider that will be on offer next year is less understood.

The link from sugar to alcohol is a one sought with glee by many. Cider will be stronger!

In truth, for small, craft cider makers the harvest is a tough one. Hours of extra time is needed to gather the same volume of fruit as last year. Where a maker might have visited two or three orchards to fill their tanks, this year they must search further to gather the same. This year that fruit may not be available at all, such is nature’s cycle and aftermath of last year’s vigour. Apples are an annual crop and don’t store for long periods in their true form. Most makers cannot consider the option of buying fruit this autumn to supplement what they handpick.

The process itself doesn’t change though. Cider will be fermented at whatever scale. It may well be higher alcohol at bottling, but few ferments will reach the 8.5 per cent limit for small makers.

Industrial production is also feeling the challenge of harvest. The normal methods of shaking and sweeping fruit are less effective; the paucity of fruit in some orchards limits the value of machine harvest against of the fuel required to pick it up. In others, the weather has impacted the quality of the fruit, leaving it mealy and soft; unable to withstand the vigour of mechanical collection. It is left on the ground or intensely screened at pressing.

Small and large, not-from-concentrate producers alike get one chance. The fruit harvested now represents the cider available next year. There are a few options, without a move to use apple juice concentrate, to bolster the volume of juice available but they won’t be taken by all; there could be less craft cider for us to enjoy in 2027.

The same applies for wine. One harvest. Could we begin to see an appreciation for vintage in cider in the same way that there is in wine? I think we’re some distance from that but, for craft producers there’s an opportunity to showcase how the already richly diverse potential in cider can be appreciated even more.