TEEPEE CIDER

TeePee Cider is a boutique artisan cider producer. It grew out of a vision of making traditional West Country cider in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Not only making cider but re-creating the whole process from tree to bottle. Firstly only cider apple cultivars, mainly originating from the West Country such as Kingston Black, are used. These cider trees are then grown as standards with a grass swath below, tended by sheep. No herbicides or insecticides are used. This, our private orchard is called Beau Vista Orchards, and we only source apples from here. Secondly the cider making is just once a year at harvest time. A tradition rack and cloth press is used. The cider is madein a style invented by the English gentry, sparkling, the method that later came to be known as methode champenoise.

TEEPEE CIDER

Our orchard is the result of many months searching for cider apple and perry pear trees in NZ over the last 20 years. Most are original West Country (England) varieties such as Kingston Black. Some had to be grafted as they are not commercially available. We want the resultant cider and perry to be as authentic as possible, and the highest quality.

The Wairarapa terroir is similar to The Three counties Climate Sheltered by the Tararua Range, the Wairarapa is a dry, warm climate. It receives up to 1,200 millimetres of rain each year, with some flooding. Annual sunshine hours average more than 1,700.

Summer weather is warm, dry and settled. Typical maximum daytime temperatures range between 20 and 28°C, sometimes rising above 30°C. Winters are cool but frosts are common. The orchard is on an old alluvial plain of free draining gravels and silt.

Every drop of juice from our apples started as rain on the Tararuas behind the orchard. Trickling streams of pure water cascade down the ravines before entering the aquifer that runs in the alluvial silt.