INSIGHTS: Why Luxury Hotels and Sommeliers Are Taking Cider Seriously Again

There was a time when serving cider at a serious hospitality event would have drawn the kind of glance usually reserved for someone reheating fish in a shared kitchen. In much of Britain's professional drinks world, cider occupied an awkward space: tolerated, occasionally celebrated in a rustic sort of way, but rarely taken seriously as a category capable of competing with fine wine.

I was born in Cardiff City in Wales, and have always appreciated a good West Country cider, so am happy that, it seems, that era is quietly but definitively coming to an end.

At the London Wine Fair 2026, among grower Champagne houses, ambitious English sparkling estates, and the familiar procession of beautifully labelled bottles, The Newt in Somerset made a statement that will have registered with every buyer, sommelier and beverage director in the room. They were there. They were present in the Host Nation pavilion, positioned directly alongside the country's leading sparkling wine producers. And they were talking, with considerable seriousness, about apples.

"Rather than trying to elevate cider, The Newt quietly ignored the category limitations and focused on producing world-class beverages with wine-level precision."

Not the sugary, carbonated products that built cider's mixed reputation in Britain. Not novelty festival cans. Proper cyder, the historic spelling itself a deliberate signal of intent, made with the kind of technical rigour and hospitality-first thinking that the drinks trade has long applied to Champagne and fine Burgundy, but rarely to anything made from apples.

A Category Repositioned

The shift The Newt represents is not simply about a single producer improving its product. It reflects a broader and genuinely significant change in the way hospitality professionals and their guests are approaching drinks culture.

Consumers today are mostly driven by authenticity, craftsmanship, and the story behind a bottle. They want food compatibility and complexity, and many are seeking lower-alcohol options that do not compromise on character. Premium cyder, approached correctly, answers all of these demands simultaneously.

For so many years, Britain's cider industry was hampered by its own history. While producers in Normandy, the Basque Country, and Scandinavia had successfully positioned artisanal ciders alongside fine wines, the domestic market remained dominated by industrial sweetness and low-cost volume. The Newt's approach breaks that association entirely, and does so not through marketing rhetoric but through the quality of what is in the bottle.

The Winston: Traditional Method in Apple Form

The centerpiece of The Newt's premium portfolio is The Winston, a sparkling cyder that invites direct comparison with fine Champagne, not as an imitation, but as a technically equivalent product made from a different fruit.

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