Sandford Orchard

My standard goto refreshing session cider.  Golden yellow slightly hazy sparkling.

Simple slightly floral nose, honey and apple pie.. Bittersweet lovely crisp refreshing flavour. Slight honey flavour.

Bit on the sweet side of medium but lovely. 

Brewed originally with help from teh Exeter Chiefs rugby team which  is probably why I have a soft spot for it. This is a great session cider and I always have a case or 2 lying around.

Clear coppery cider, slightly sparkling

Not much bouquet compared to many ciders, but very nice and fresh.

​ Very very smooth.  Very little bite, but strong good apple taste.  Slight caramel note , but not sweet.  Very slight dryness on side of tongue 

Good to buy in bulk for summer afternoons because of the strength.  Another one where I usually have a box lying around. Survives a good month in the box, but obviously harder to chill.

Very easy to drink, and I should know.

My first low alcohol cider, so let's see how it holds up to the real stuff.

Dark golden colour, clear and slightly sparkling

Nose isn’t as fruity as Devon Red in fact hardly any apple at all

Taste though is quite pleasant. Nowhere near as strong a taste of Devon Red but there is some cider there and it’s quite decent. Slightly drier than Red I think but with no tannin to speak of. Quite a pleasant sweetish aftertaste.

So. Perfectly drinkable I have to say. I’d like it to have a bit more oomph; it’s a bit insipid as it is but if you have or want to go low alcohol then this is very decent to drink. It’s no where near as sweet and sickly as I expected and from what I hear is common fo other low alcohol ciders

Nice sparkle when first poured but settles quickly.  Good crisp nose, sharp fresh apples with slight sulphite initially but not unpleasant. 

Lovely and dry but with very little tannin.  If you don’t like that astringent taste you get in many dry ciders then this is the one for you.  Quite buttery and rolls over the tongue.  Not an usual apple taste probably because of the apple varieties but you can certainly taste them there.  Slight citrus finish for me.  There are others that are very much stronger in flavour. 

Good with light food like fish/shellfish or chicken, but fairly robust,  also is quite easy drinking for a warm afternoon.

Very nice, one I drink regularly.

Says something that I’ve gone through many cases before remembering to review it. One of my go to ciders during the summer and a hot summer's day in the garden.

Golden, slightly hazy sparkling. 

Crisp fresh apple nose. Not a huge amount to it. 

The taste though. Bittersweet with a lot of fresh fruit. So easy to drink with a slight sparkle on the tongue. Nothing complex just lots of juicy fruit with a long mouth watering aftertaste. Just on the sweet side of medium but I’d call it medium. 

A brilliant session cider and I’ve done many on it. 

2019 vintage Copper clear slight sparkle.

Good gentle cider nose.

Well rounded deep apple flavour, dry on the back of the throat, but not too dry. Mellows nicely in the aftertaste. As they say on the bottle slight peach and sherry overtones. Oak conditioned and you can tell as that oak is definitely there but not overpowering.

Very nice, but one to savour. As they suggest, would work well with strong flavoured foods.

Aged in a old oak vat called 'The General'.

Copper, clear slightly sparkling 

Deep mature cooked apple nose with a tiny bit of oak and vanilla.

Big deep cooked apple flavour with a bit of plum. ok and vanilla. Slight dryness, but overall quite smooth.  Nice dry aftertaste but makes your mouth water and asking for more.

This cider has won awards for the best tannic cider in the world but I don't find it over tannic (perhaps that's why it's the best?). Dangerous at the strength so savour it with a nice bit of cheese. The taste is certainly strong enough to stand up to it.

Light golden hazy small amount of sparkle.

Oak nose. Not hugely of cider.  

Heavy antique wood taste. You can imaging chewing an old kitchen chair. It’s so reminiscent of the antique wood you can almost taste the camphor although obviously it’s not there. Not a huge apple taste. Dry but not hugely tannic and that wood Taste lingers on the tongue.

Bit too much wood for me and not enough fruit I must confess, but it is interesting.

Golden cloudy flat from the barrel.

Not a huge nose but gently of fermented apple.

Not the biggest nor most exciting flavour. Very mellow slightly sweet without much of an aftertaste. Just tastes if weak scrumpy with a gentle apple flavour with a touch of vanilla.

Disappointing considering how good the rest of the range is. It is easy to drink mind so would be fine in a session. Just not exciting. Curiously most review notes mention it being tart, but it wasn't where we tried it. Might be because it came from the barrel.

Blackberry cider... Ok bare with me here

Browny red (almost rust), clear sparkling.

Cooked apple nose with a bit of straw, but with no noticeable blackberry.

Taste wise, it has a nice bittersweet apple main flavour with the blackberry only kicking in subtly in the aftertaste alongside a slight hint of vanilla and leaves nice juiciness on the tongue. The blackberry builds builds slowly as you drink more and possibly as the cider warms, but never overpowers.

It's not as sweet as it gets rated on the Sandford site I think . It certainly isn't sticks to your teeth sweet.

This is how berry ciders should be done. One to bring Kopparberg drinkers over to the light side.  

This is an Italian Prosecco style cider and it holds up nicely against the real stuff but is a bit different and lower alcohol to boot.

I tried this sparkling cider back in 2022 and didn't think that much of it, but I gave it another go in 2025...

2025

Light golden, slightly cloudy, sparkling

Robust deep sweet wine nose, with the slight hint of pear

Very unusual flavour for a cider as you'd expect. Big hit of tannin up front with quite a dry texture getting drier in the aftertaste. Swirl it round your mouth though and the really deep vintage cider comes through, and you can feel the alcohol in it.

Could do with a bit more up front flavour for me, but that is cracking and I’ll be getting more.

2022

Very gentle apple blossom nose leading to a soft medium slightly sweet taste for me even though they claim medium dry.

Nice fresh apple nose, but not too intense.

It is Prosecco style without a huge pallet. Very subtle apple/pear notes and would do as a lower alcohol Prosecco replacement. So does it work with Aperol? Yes it does. Of course the Aperol is the main flavour but you do get a subtle apple. It works and is a nice change.

I applaud this trend of trying to make sparkling wine ciders though, we used to be very good at it at the start of the 20th century. The re-invention of the style is to be applauded.

Not yet reviewed, watch this space

Not yet reviewed, watch this space

Made for M&S by Sandford Orchards

Peach colour clear and sparkling

Fruity and slightly floral nose and you do get a bit of the winey grape in there.

Decent fresh light flavour. Initial hit is a zingy sweetish cider but you then get grapes and finally a berry almost strawberry aftertaste. No tannin and fairly sweet but not sickly sweet.

Lacks a bit of flavour and tastes watered down which is not surprising as it is.

Not a bad Little blend that. Would be an interesting little post meal cider. Not sure it it would really work with goat cheese as they suggest but possibly so. If you like the sweet ones and you’re in m&s do try it, even though it is watered down and sugar added(naughty naughty).

M&S Christmas cider 2020.

Cloudy straw yellow and slightly sparkling.

The nose has a fairly strong cinnamon, clove, mulled cider smell. But this is only on the nose.

Taste is a lot more subtle with ginger clove an cinnamon which doesn't drown out the cider. Very subtle very nice. Makes a nice change from straight ciders, especially on a Christmas evening with mince pies. Might work mulled, but we didn't try.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Note this cider is no longer made, but in case you spot a stray bottle...

An interesting experiment of mixing a Devon cider with one from Yorkeshire (Thornborough). As the maker describes it:

'A two harvest, two region blend. Wild-fermented, vibrant dessert apples from Yorkshire and part oak-aged, tannin rich cider apples from Devon.'

Dark copper clear good sparkle.

Big cider nose of ripe apples.dry on the tongue but not too bad. 

Dry, but not too much tannin. Nice rich initial hit that lingers for a while getting quite refreshing. You don’t get much of the oak from the southern but you get the desert apples as an aftertaste.

Interesting. They say robust tannin but I don’t get that. 7% so drink with care, as it's a very nice easy to drink dry cider.