Yarlington Mill-a vintage variety?

[michael]

I picked my first crop of Yarlington Mill apples yesterday and I must
say that I was a little disappointed with the taste (compared with
Dabinett and Le Bret for example).The medium sized tree has produced a
magnificent clean crop,but I had expected a vintage bittersweet to
have more about it from the taste.I was once told by a local
cidermaker that one can tell the quality of the cider to be expected
by just tasting the apple.I cut one of the apples and left
overnight,and it is clear from the browning that there is some
reasonable amount of tannin in the apple.So with a blend of some more
acidic apples it will probably be O.K.,but perhaps the main quality
one learns from the literature is that Yarlington Mill apples have a
lovely aroma-is that the juice or during fermentation.
I would be interested to hear what others think about Yarlington Mill
Michael
P.S.My perry has now started to ferment after an addition of 180ppm
and 2.5 weeks,and a small amount of heating to keep the temperature
above 50C

[Andrew Lea]

Michael,

If this is the first crop from a young tree it may well not be typical
of the same fruit at a more mature age.

Yarlington is only a mild bittersweet but with a very unusual phenolics
profile which makes it seem by chemical analysis more tannic than it
really is (i.e. it contains an unusually high phenolic acid to
procyanidin ratio). It does have quite a distinctive aroma as a finished
SV cider.

You would be stepping way out of line to slag it off! It is generally
very highly regarded.

Andrew

--
Wittenham Hill Cider Pages
www.cider.org.uk

[Stephen Hayes]

Thanks for sharing, all our stories are worth telling.

I have been very pleased with Yarlington Mill and recommend it unreservedly.
If I was uprooted from my home and had to plant a new cider orchard from
scratch, I would plant Yarlington probably at 30% of my total planting, it
has done so well for me. Soft tannin, high sugar, good all round taste and
very heavy cropper 7 years out of 10, also good resistance to red spider
mite which had me tearing out what's left of my hair this year. However, no
apple will perform well in every season or every soil, and we have had a
very strange year-very cold winter followed by no rain from April to August
then heavy late summer rains. But all my bittersweets have been light on
tannin this year, even Tremletts. Its a mistake to judge an apple harshly on
one year's crop.

Again, I have found that Kingston Black has been a wretched failure for
me-and I say that based on 16 trees I planted in 1999. They are (for me)
quite literally a waste of space-less fruit on all 16 of them than my best
Yarlington Mill. But I still wouldn't say don't try to grow Kingston Black,
it may do better for others.

I'd advise anyone planting a new cider orchard to plant at least half a
dozen reputable varieties, and be prepared to graft over the worst to the
best after several years experience of what works well for you.

all the best

Stephen

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Andrew Lea" <y...@cider.org.uk>
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 4:06 PM
To: <cider-w...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Cider Workshop] Yarlington Mill-a vintage variety?

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[Rich Anderson]

Yarlington Mill is a good apple. From the orchardists point of view they are
easy to maintain and good annual croppers. They are a mild bittersweet. They
will improve in the years to come. You are looking at a juvenile apple, it
is likely fleshy, dull and may have a bit of bitter pit (brown spotting).
You will have to blend it with a more acidic apples. Our ph will runs about
4.0 and they turn a lovely red-pink color.

--

[michael]

Maybe I am judging the first crop of Yarlington Mill apples too
harshly,but in comparison with similar aged trees of Harry Masters
Jersey and Dabinett,the taste is rather dull.The sugar level of 1.055
was satisfactory,but again not as high as the others.I have looked up
the description of YM in several books as I was not quite sure it was
true to type,but I cannot see what else it can be.I have had several
wrong varieties over the years,probably about 5%,and thought this
could be one of them.
Michael

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[JezH]

I like Yarlington Mill too... I would give it a try. However,
personally (I ought to emphasise that bit) I don't go for single
varieties made from *any* one variety. I know, I know - Kingston Black
again... but even then, surely its better as a part of a well
constructed blend?!

All the best

Jez

[Ray Blockley]

Jez wrote:

Didn't like my 100% Jonagold then...? ;-)

I would agree with you by and large. However, Monday sees me finally
starting to collect the 1 tonne or so of graded Nottinghamshire-grown Katy's
(Katja) that have been picked, boxed and put on one side for me...
Hmmm... blend or do a "Thatcher's"...? :-)

We have had a bumper crop of Yarly's this year but all will go into a blend.

Cheers,

Ray.

http://hucknallciderco.blogspot.com/
http://torkardcider.moonfruit.com/

[JezH]

Doh... I knew I would end up putting myself in a corner:-)

Yes, I did like your Jonagold, Ray. It was clean and tasty. However
(and please don't take this the wrong way), I find SV cider generally
a bit one dimensional for me and (personally) I wouldn't make an SV. I
have tried doing so in the past, with Egremont, but although I liked
the taste, I was disappointed on the whole. I also do like Burrow Hill
Stoke Red and Kingston Black Champagne style - although again, they
are nicer if you add a bit of 'Somerset Pomona' (Burrow Hill aperitif)
- and Julian Temperley gave me that tip himself.

I do know cider drinkers whose favourite cider is Thatchers Katy -
maybe they are the people to aim for... I just don't tend to do that
myself (but then I am young(ish) and naive... or should that be middle
aged and stubborn?:-)

All the best

Jez

[Ray Blockley]

Don't worry, Jez, I was only teasing.

And I agree with you about the one-dimensional thing. As I said, I wouldn't
do it out of choice and have no intention of doing a Katy SV... It was just
that by the time we got the Jonagolds, there was nothing left to blend it
with!

[nfcider]

Jez,
I didn't know you were into "Orchard Mischief",a great marketing idea
by Julian,to stick a minature bottle of Pomona or KB Aperitif to the
the champagne bottle to add yourself,it's just the right volume and
thus escapes the additional tax factor our greedy Customs would foist
on if we were to in-bottle fortify.
Barry

[jez....@btinternet.com]

I tend to buy the full size bottle of Pomona and decide for myself how much to add... But its very good - and sounds very clever too.

I didn't know it was called orchard mischief...

Jez
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