The most frequent question we get asked at Glenmel is where the **** is Owermoigne and how do you spell it?
We also get asked what is Schnapple, well Schnapple is made to a top secret recipe known only by Glen Holloway and Mel Jefferson, hence the name Glenmel Winery (we thought it sounded better than the HolloJeff Winery which frankly sounded a bit too Star Trek for our liking).
The way we started was not that many years ago, all the “local” cider seemed to come from Somerset and all the “local” wine came from Devon or Cornwall.
It appeared at the time that Dorset was well unrepresented within the food and drink market (gladly this has changed massively), additionally it was astonishing how many tons of local apples were just disregarded and left to rot, it was out of this that Schnapple was born. We set out to make a top quality product that would proudly shout it was from Dorset, that’s why our label shows the iconic Cerne Abbas Giant holding the Dorset flag.
The Glenmel Winery is based at Owermoigne, at the home of the Mill House Cider. We really recommend that you pay them a visit; they have greenhouses growing top quality plants, a cider museum that has a collection of old working cider presses, a clock museum, a shop selling local wines and ciders, local cheese and sausages and pork from Glen’s own Sandy and Black pigs and of course it's where you can sample and most importantly buy Schnapple.
You can also bring your apples to site and press them so that you can start making your own cider or drink the fresh apple juice you make. It is so much better than letting your apples go to waste and is something that here at Glenmel we totally endorse.
If you pay us a visit you will soon spot Mel as he is the one hobbling around complaining about his back, and Glen is the manic one trying to multitask between greenhouses, shop, winery and pigs. As an aside Glen is the lead singer with the V8 Hearts, a great rock band (check them out on YouTube).
So all in all I hope you have a great day if you visit Mill House Cider, but most importantly I hope you love our range of Schnapple products, if you don’t get the chance to pay us a visit why not buy a bottle from one of our Schnapple suppliers.