Peckham’s new owners doing Alex proud
Peckham’s new owners Lois and Jody Scott with their recent awards at their Upper Moutere orchard. Photo: Kate Russell.
Tucked into the serene Upper Moutere hills, two cider enthusiasts are carrying on the legacy of the late Alex Peckham - and they’ve already picked up an impressive stack of awards.
Jody and Lois Scott officially took over Peckham’s Cider in March this year.
The fate of the business was left up in the air after founder and cider maker Alex tragically passed away in April 2022, just three months after being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour.
UK natives Jody and Lois, who were living in Napier at the time – Jody working as the head cider maker for Zeffer and Lois working in marketing for a winery – knew they had to take it over.
“I had always admired Peckham’s and always loved what Peckham’s stood for - the orchard and the fruit,” says Jody.
“We knew we had to get here.”
The Neudorf Rd orchard, which was established in 2004, has one of the most well-developed and diverse plantings of heritage cider apples in the country and Caroline Peckham, Alex’s widow, wanted the farm to continue producing cider.
The 16.5-hectare property is currently planted with nine hectares of apples.
Jody, a winemaker by trade, says although the circumstances were tragic, they saw an opportunity to carry on Alex’s legacy and continue growing the business.
“We couldn’t bear to see the operation folding or the trees being ripped out, which might have happened.”
So, they decided to make the move south from Napier and have been “crazy busy” ever since, filling the boots of their trailblazing predecessor.
But the long hours are paying off, as not only as has the support been “massive” but they have recently picked up an abundance of awards.
Earlier this month Peckham’s was crowned New Zealand Champion Cider Producer at the 2023 New Zealand Cider Awards.
They were also awarded Champion Cider for the Stoke Red 2020, Best Cider with Fruit for Boysenberry, Best Specialty Cider for Roasted Apple and Best Traditional Cider for Stoke Red 2020.
Stoke Red 2020 also picked up Best International Cider or Perry at the 2023 Australian Cider Awards last month.
In fact, Stoke Red 2020 is so good, it has completely sold out.
“We were confident we would come away with something, but we were surprised to win as much as we did,” says Jody. “It was exciting that we won across a range of styles.”
They say, not only is it humbling to win the awards in Alex’s honour, but it gives them confidence that Peckham’s is carrying on with its excellence.
“The Peckham’s fans are so passionate and the feedback from everyone has been really positive,” says Jody.
“We regularly get emails from people saying, ‘I love this cider you’ve released’ or ‘I’m so happy you are still carrying on the way it was before’,” adds Lois.
The couple say they would love to expand the business and are already looking at providing accommodation onsite.
“We’d love to have something that people can come and visit, but we don’t know what form that would be yet - at least a tap room,” says Lois. “The opportunities here are endless.”
She says they would also like to start exporting their award-winning cider.
“We want to showcase what New Zealand cider can actually be.”