The Graaff family of De Grendel are closely connected to the apple industry with four generations having strong roots in apple production. It was thus a natural progression for the wine farm to start producing cider. Three Spades Cider is a premium cider that is uniquely made from freshly pressed pure apple juice, rather than apple concentrate. It has been gently hand-crafted using apples from the Elgin terroir – an area that is well-known for its premium apples.The creation of Three Spades Cider was a brand new experience for De Grendel winemaker, Charles Hopkins, and he was pleasantly surprised that the treatment of both wine and cider is not worlds apart – although cider offers a much quicker process. “Making this cider has been a great learning curve and an interesting experience for me. I didn’t realise how similar the process would be to winemaking,” explains Charles. “I’ve discovered that the secret to a top class cider is the composition of the apple juices.”