TeePee Cider

Pear tree in foreground in blossom whilst the apple trees behind are still dormant.

Hysteranthous -blossom before leaves. Pears do this. Apples which flower a few weeks later take the usual leaves first course to the spring weather shielding the delicate flower buds from frost etc Pear have evolved to flower dramatically as early as possible in to attract bees but take that risk.

Kererū pigeons in bare greengage tree.

Mystery solved! Kererū poo! Under a large greengage tree at Beau Vista orchard has been continuous poo. I thought possums but trap those and levels low. Then they arrived. 3 beautiful birds who had been hiding from me for weeks. Must roost in the tree at night. #kereru #orchard #NewZealand #Aotearoa

A close up of Tom Putt apple flower bud.

A cluster of 5 apple lower buds. Deep red and tightly closed.

At last! -the Tom Putt apples (our first apples to blossom) are about to bud burst. The leaves opened first last week revealing these gorgeous deep crimson flower buds. A late but bountiful Spring. #cider #apples #orchard #Wairarapa #NewZealand

Large bluebell swath.

Bluebells in a shady corner.

Bluebells naturalising around the apple trees.

The orchard is changing rapidly now the days are longer and the temperatures are climbing after a slow start to Spring. We are now peak bluebells. They have put on a great show this year. #bluebells #cider #orchard #Wairarapa

Our stand at Winetopia Viaduct Convention Centre Auckland 2025.

Well that’s a wrap. Winetopia 2025 in Auckland was great. 2 days of fun. Wonderful customers really passionate about how cider is wine. Lots tasted. We had 3 offerings a SV Kingston Black, SV Yarlington Mill, and a mixed Perry. Great networking with winemakers. #Winetopianz #Winetopia2025 #Cider

Teepee Cider stand.

Masterclass on mainstage.

Winetopia 2025 in Auckland is a blast. 50 stands of premium wines food and of course cider. We are next to Palliser in the Wairarapa section. Masterclasses and live cover band with dancing. Did I mention a fantastic rendition of Dancing Queen? #winetopianz #Winetopia2025 #cider

Large 50 seater coach on narrow driveway to cidery.

A good day was had. Now we know a 50 seater bus fits now the drive at TeePee Cider! We hosted a visit by Wellington U3A. Sadly the blossom was late and it rain, rain, rained but with improvisation, a gazebo and a talk, our guests had a good day with cider tastings and good food. #cider #U3A #orchard

Majestic pear tree in blossom.

Our local park has a magnificent conference pear tree in it. Really quite old and majestic for NZ. This year it is looking spectacular with heavy blossoms. Although late probably due to the colder end to winter most early fruit trees like cherry have heavy blooms this year. #pear #Spring #blossom

Forget me not flower

Large patch of forget me nots

The humble forget-me-not self sets and appears each year at this time around TeePee Cidery. Its scienitific name is Myosotis, a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae from the Northern Hemisphere. Myosotis alpestris is the official flower of Alaska. #cidery #NewZealand #Aotearoa

How EU Policy Affects Small, High-Quality Cider Makers There is no E.U. wide definition for cider. Poor policy and competing interests are hurting smaller, high-quality producers and apple farmers across the continent.

Excellent art on cider and what it’s made from. Spoiler alert not often 100% apples. #cider www.forbes.com/sites/felipe...

New leaves unfurling on apple tree.

New leaves unfurled revealing the blossom bud in the centre.

At last! The leaf buds of Tom Putt, our earliest cider apple trees at Beau Vista orchard are opening. No sign of blossom yet though and most varieties are still dormant. #apple #cider #Wairarapa #Aotearoa #NewZealand

The perry pear tree in blossom. You can see the main orchard behind still bare.

Here is one of the pear trees. The main orchard is still bare.

A curious start to the year in the orchard. Whilst most established trees are late to bloom, now about 3+ weeks late, a few of our younger pear trees about 5 years are in full bloom!
Yesterday was warm and sunny and even the honey bees came over to celebrate. #perry #orchard #cider
#NewZealand #pear

Drift of bluebells in flower.

Move over daffodils; it’s bluebell time. Although our equinox’s winds batter them, they are doing well. They self propagate so its nice seeing bunches appear as well as replanting the bulbs. There are a few white ones but the pink ones have not flowered. #bluebells #orchard #Apples #NewZealand

Our oldest Shropshire sheep.

This is our oldest Shropshire sheep. She is about 13 years old. We have had her now for 10 years at Beau Vista orchard. She is losing condition and some weight but is still the leader of the others that joined our small flock later. And always happy to see us. Just eating grass 😍. #orchard #sheep

Cicely Parsley the rabbit making cider from apples.

Cicely Parsley making cowslip wine.

In 1922, Beatrix Potter’s 2nd book of nursery rhymes was published by Warne, some from old material. He made changes, including that Cecily's apples become into cowslips and that the barrels of cider be turned into cowslip wine. Photos of the original with cider and revised. #cider #rhymes

Perry pear buds about to burst.

One day later first blossoms have opened.

3 days after first image, most blossoms now open.

The perry blossom in opening fast now even in this atrocious weather. Second photo in 1 day later and the 3rd photo is 3 days later! Is 3 weeks late already so perhaps trying to catch up! 😉 #perry #blossom #flowering #orchard #Spring2025

Pictures of a pear pear at bud burst; on the left the alt text has been added and the icon has changed to ‘added’ state. On the right text is still to be added by tapping in the icon.

Again a split image of what a low vision person would find; the left hand image on a plane landing without alt txt added would be read by a reader as “img…1234”, the right hand image with alt txt added as “Airplane landing”, much more informative!.

(Alt) Text is a text description of images and is important in social media making it accessible to all users. It is not visible on the page but can be seen by people with low vision etc who use screen reader software. And of use to you, as it allows search engines to find and rank your content!

Wet day in Wairarapa looking over a nature reserve pond pond near TeePee Cider looking at the Tararua ranges.

Wet day at the orchard. It’s been raining a lot over several days due to a NW atmospheric river. The rivers are high but not flooding. Most of the rain is on the western side of the Tararua ranges and we are to the east. #climate #wairarapa #rain #Aotearoa #NewZealand #Spring #meteorology

Perry pear blossom just at bud burst.

Our ‘other’ perry pear is just starting its blossoming. Called Carterton after our nearby town in it’s a very old wilding found in the rural area East Taratahi. Beautiful pink! Small tannic pears with high sugar last year 1.076 SG I have high hopes. #perry #orchard #blossom #nzcider #cider #pear

Weeping Willow in a field close to Beau Vista orchard

New lime green leaf on the river bank control willows planted along the Taipaitangata stream in front of Beau Vista orchards. Still snow on the high ranges

I love the light green lime colour of new leaves on the willows in Spring. It only lasts for a few days before darkening. Spring is a time of such change when plants nearly dormant wait patiently though Winter until their cue to burst forth. #nature #leaves #willow #Spring

Frost on the grass

Poem Jack Frost

And the weather’s sting in the tail. Heavy frost this morning. Some reports of -4C. Jack Frost. So glad the apple and pear blossom is unusually late this year so will not affect the fruit set. #frost #weather #cider #apple #pear #orchard #wairarapa #Aotearoa

AI generated emoji of me

Apple AI offered to designed an emoji for me. I was skeptical at first and thought what the heck I will give it a go. It turned out OK I think. Wassail. #cider #cidermaker #emoji

Infrared imaging showing CO2 escaping from a tilted versus an upright flute. Photo credit Gérard Liger-Belair Collection CIVC/ Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne

Best way to pour bubbles? Infrared imaging shows pouring into a tilted glass flute has significantly less impact on the dissolved CO2. Pouring a sparkling wine straight down a flute produces turbulence and traps air bubbles, both of which force dissolved CO2 to escape more rapidly from the wine.

Bubbles in a flute and nucleation points Photo credit Gérard Liger-Belair Collection CIVC/Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne)

For bubbles champagne needs nucleation points overcome surface tension. These were glass faults however the better the glass the less imperfections! So makers etch them in - up to 20 points creating a ring at the base which produces columns of rising bubbles. #champagne #method #cider

Cider bottles with labels and foils applied

Pile of boxes being made up.

As owners of a small cider company, Frances and I do literally everything with the help of a few good friends. The jobs are not all glamorous like picking and pressing apples. Here is us labelling and boxing up the cider bottles. #cider #work #nzcider teepeecider.co.nz

Recently I posted about Richard Feynman quote about a poet describing a glass of #wine . He never named the poet he had in mind. But here is William #Wordsworth describing daffodils. Apt as its daffodil time at the #cider orchard. The whole #Carterton area has #daffodils. And the Daffodil Express.

One of our perry pears is earlier than the others and is a herald of Spring. It has just opened its first blossom. Overall late this year. First blossom last year was 20th August. #perry #pear #Spring #wairarapa #carterton #nzcider

Opening a 75cL bottle of method wine or cider releases about 5 liters of CO2 or about six times its own volume. About 80% of this CO2 is simply outgassed by direct diffusion, but the remaining 20 percent still equates to about 20 million bubbles per flute. Wæs hæil
#cider #champagne #cava

Rather nice write up in current edition of dish magazine by Yvonne Lorkin wine writer. Method traditional or Method Albion? I prefer the latter. I love the aromas of a cool fermented ciders as the bubbles delivery them to the nose. #Method #cider #dish