When the supermarkets began to gain dominance during the nineties, selling cheap imported apple varieties such as the Granny Smith, it signaled tough times ahead for English apple producers, as demand for our native fruit plummeted.
With the English apple market in ruins, Tom Stephens (27) dream of one day taking over his family’s fruit farm in West Sussex, looked like being a distant reality. After completing his degree in London, Tom was faced with the prospect of having to get a “proper job”, deciding instead to forgo a career in the city to return to Bolney and fulfill his destiny.
Jump forward four years and Tom is beginning to transform the fortunes of his family’s 40-acre orchard, creating an exceptional range of apple juice which is putting the Old Mill Fruit Farm back on the map. "I always wanted to do something with the farm, I love cooking and wanted to be a chef, plus I love apple juice and cider, so it seemed like a good fit”, explains Tom.
Named after an area of the orchard which is has a wobbly gate, Tom’s Wobblegate brand uses organic English apples to produce a range of nine bottled juice products. These include single varieties such as the Cox, Discovery or Russet, alongside blended juices which include Wobblegate’s flagship Cox and Bramley drink, which Tom proudly describes as being “As English and an apple juice can get.”
The Stephen’s family have been growing fruit and producing apple products in Bolney for over a hundred years, passing the heritage and apple growing expertise down the family line. As a result, Tom’s juice is produced using the traditional hand pressed method, from fruit picked at the very peak of its ripeness, delivering juice which is simply bursting with natural sweetness.
The last twelve months have been something of a vintage year for Wobblegate, which has not only enjoyed a bumper crop, but has also seen its juice products begin to receive critical and commercial acclaim. Its Cox & Bramley, and single Bramley juices both received a single star at last years Great Taste Awards, and last month Wobblegate was crowned ‘Best Drink Producer of the Year’ and the prestigious Sussex Food & Drink Awards 2011/12.
It was receiving the Great Taste awards last year that finally gave Wobblegate the springboard it needed to raise awareness of its apple juice beyond the local markets and pubs of Bolney. After winning the awards, Tom’s girlfriend cobbled together a press release which she sent to the local media, resulting in the first press story about the business.
Shortly after, Wobblegate exhibited at the Glynde Food & Drink Festival, where Tom was shocked by the sudden awareness and demand for his products, selling his entire stock with two hours to spare. At this point, he began to believe that his Wobblegate business might actually go on to achieve something.
The recent success of Wobblegate is attributed solely to the hard work and dedication of its founder Tom, who has barely taken a day off in four years, “I’ve had to call on a lot of help from family and friends to get the business to where it is”, he recounts.
With only limited funds at his disposal, he has had to do everything on the cheap, which has meant designing the packaging and website himself, rebuilding the family farm shop and handling all the sales and promotion activity. This is all on top of having to pick, grade, press and bottle the products and deliver them to his customers across Sussex.
With Tom’s hard work beginning to pay off, 2012 already looks set to be another vintage year for the business. On top of producing a record 100,000 bottles of apple juice, Wobblegate is set to launch its first cider it the coming weeks, as soon as its license has been approved. Already one of the most anticipated food and drink launches of the year, Wobblegate is planning to launch five varieties of farmhouse cider over the coming year, which is great for business but might mean Tom has to wait a while before taking another well earned day off.
For more information about Wobblegate visit: http://www.wobblegate.co.uk/
