Windermere Cider began early in 1989 when Andre Le Roux and Mark Stanford brought bitter-sweet apple varieties to South Africa from Europe. It was only from 1994 that the pair was able to begin experimenting with apple blends and brewing home-made cider as they waited for the trees to bare sustainable fruit in this new Western Cape climate.

The story of Windermere Cider is as juicy and interesting as the product itself…

By 1998 they introduced South Africa’s FIRST REAL CRAFT CIDER from their home district of the Elgin Valley. South African customers on mass weren’t however ready for the cider revolution and the business curbed production over the next decade from 40,000 L to smaller private consumption amounts. Windermere Cider is reborn again in 2012 to serve and deliver PREMIUM REAL APPLE CIDER to a new generation of cider lovers in our country.
Owing to the magnificence of the product the original owners remain loyal to the brand and are fully involved in the production, marketing & distribution along with the new partners who have joined the mix.

Windermere is brewed as a German-style cider or apfelwein, but we have gone one step further and have developed a pure apple cider recipe with no sugars, preservatives or additives to contaminate the natural fermentation process. We hope you enjoy drinking our cider as much as we enjoyed crafting it!