Dunkertons Organic Cider has scooped a gold award for its Black Fox Cider at the World Cider Awards 2025.
Described as the Oscars of the cider world, Black Fox Cider beat entries from over 20 countries to take the top award in blind tastings from a panel of expert cider makers, sommeliers and drinks writers.
But it's not just cider that Dunkertons Park, is famous for. SoGlos sat down for a chat with entrepreneur Julian Dunkerton and cider expert Bean Benson at Dunkertons Park to discover more about the hard work behind the win – and chat about how the milestone is another feather in the cap for Dunkertons Park, with plenty of exciting plans for the future in the pipeline...
Congratulations on your award win! What does it mean to you?
Julian: The World Cider Awards are a bit like the World Cup, so, of course, it's absolutely amazing to win gold. It's a great honour and it's down to Bean Benson that we're here.
Entrepreneurs like me are very good if they understand that they have weaknesses and then they have to supplement their weaknesses with great skills.
I have no skills to make the science of cider whatsoever, despite my parents' heritage.
Finding Bean is probably the most significant factor in this whole journey.
Bean: I think it's just a credit for all hard work that we've put in. It's really exciting. It's good for people who visit Dunkertons Park to recognise what we've done in a competitive market.
What makes Dunkertons Cider so special?
Julian: My father, in particular, was a real wine connoisseur. He bought his wine skills to cider.
He came up with the thought processes behind the cider's sophisticated flavours because he knew how to create beautiful wines.
Our ciders are made in a way that other ciders just aren't made.
Cider is a word that is slightly misleading because there's real cider and then there's commercial cider.
We are very much in the real cider camp. Not only are we organic, but it takes a year, sometimes two years to create – and it sits there bubbling away for all of that time.
Whereas commercial cider is made in a few weeks and that's very different. It's literally a commercial process.
We are organic and real. And we are made from blends. Black Fox is a blend of 16 different apples, so it's a much more sophisticated product.
And it's not just thrown in, it's tasted and blended, too.
How did the cider story begin?
Julian: My parents' orchard is in Herefordshire. Herefordshire is apple county. There are only two counties in Britain that really are serious about cider and that's Somerset or Herefordshire.
When we moved from London, they realised they couldn't make a living off a tiny acreage. So they needed something that was more end productive, rather than just farming commodities.
So they decided to do what Herefordshire is so good at, growing apples which are great and a good size.
How important is the organic part?
Julian: My parents' orchards have been organic for 45 years.
I think the only people who were talking about organic at that time were my parents and Prince Charles.
And, you know, he's been proven to be right. He's been right on architecture and he's been right on organic. So, yeah, I'm very proud of that heritage.
How do you choose which orchards to buy from?
Julian: We do actually still buy from my parents' original farm along with 12 other organic farmers in Herefordshire.
We pay farmers for their time and we pay 50 per cent more for our proof that it's organic.
Commercial ciders may well be importing concentrates from abroad. We are fundamentally different.
What we should have is some kind of different labelling to say, actually, this is made in the old-fashioned way.
There should be something government stamped, like Champagne is protected.
And if you're not making it as cider should be made, maybe you call it something else?
This award helps put Dunkertons Park on the map. Are you proud of what you've created?
Julian: Cider is the absolute heart of Dunkertons Park.
This area was a bit of a dump and it's grown into so much. It is now such a wonderful space with a sense of community.
For example recently on Saturday, from 9am to 11am, there was a kid's party. From midday until late afternoon, the rugby was showing. And then there was a music in the evening. So, there is always something happening here.
Dunkertons Park is totally unique. We have people travelling literally hundreds of miles to be here.
Dunkertons Park is one of the reasons people are buying in the area. That's the feedback we're getting.
People want something different. We live in cookie cutter towns. So maybe people want to live in a town that has got different things.
That's why people use it and love it because it is fundamentally not the same as you get in Leamington Spa.
What we offer with entertainment also changes every week.
Is there anything new coming to Dunkertons Park?
Julian: There are padel courts and a new platform coming to allow more seating along the river.
What about the new Holland Cooper HQ?
Julian: My wife Jade Holland Cooper is now a sort of national phenomenon. She's doing amazingly.
People come across countries to visit Holland Cooper. That's because this is our only full price atelier showroom.
I've heard of people coming from Australia too. So what's interesting is the site has a host of different reasons to come.
So your reason might be different from someone else's reason. That's why it's so brilliant. The new showroom opens in January 2026.
