Glossary · Cider
Apple wine
Definition
Cider fermented to a strength closer to table wine, usually 9% ABV or more, generally by adding sugar to the juice before fermentation.
- Subject
- Cider
In more detail
The term is used two ways. In North American and competition usage it means a strong, wine-like cider, often chaptalised. In German usage Apfelwein is simply the national word for cider at ordinary strength. In several tax systems, exceeding a strength threshold moves a product out of the cider class altogether and into wine or made-wine, which is a fiscal boundary rather than a stylistic one.
Where this is covered properly
The glossary defines; these pages explain. Each is described in its own words.
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Cider
Apfelwein
German apple wine: cider fermented dry from culinary and wild apples, usually still or lightly sparkling, sharply acidic and served in the Frankfurt region as a regional speciality.
Fermentation
Chaptalisation
Adding sugar to juice before fermentation to raise the eventual alcohol. It increases strength without changing acid or tannin, so a heavily chaptalised cider can taste thin for its strength.
Law and labelling
Made-wine
A United Kingdom excise category for fermented alcoholic drinks that are neither beer, cider, perry nor wine of fresh grapes. A cider that fails the juice-content or strength tests is taxed as made-wine.
Law and labelling
Duty band
A range of alcoholic strength within which a single rate of alcohol duty applies. The United Kingdom moved to a strength-based banded system in 2023, so a small change in ABV can change the tax substantially.
Where to go next
- Cider glossary — The whole vocabulary, by subject and A–Z.
- Comparisons — Terms that are only really clear when set against the thing they are not.
- Search — Finds terms by their aliases and by their spellings in other languages.
Sources
What this page rests on. Where a source is marked as registered rather than read, CiderHQ is recording that the body is authoritative on the subject without claiming to have worked through the document itself. See our evidence policy for what each state means.
BJCP Beer Style Guidelines — cider and perry categories
Beer Judge Certification Program · classification framework · retrieved 2026-08-24
Opened on 2026-08-24, and the edition matters. CiderHQ registered the 2015 cider guidelines; BJCP has since published a 2025 cider edition, and the old URL now redirects into the current guidelines index. A competition style guide is a dated framework rather than a standing definition, and citing the wrong edition of one is the same class of error as citing a superseded specification. CiderHQ treats BJCP as one competition framework among several and never as the universal cider taxonomy.
Alcoholic Products Technical Guide, section 2 — alcoholic products (formerly Excise Notice 162)
HM Revenue & Customs · regulator · passage verified 2026-08-24
What may be called cider or perry for UK duty purposes. The substantive text now lives in section 2 of the Alcoholic Products Technical Guide rather than in the notice itself, and the passages below were read there. The widely repeated "35% juice" figure checks out — but note two things the figure alone hides: it is a tax threshold rather than a quality standard, and concentrate and dilution both count towards it.
Hard cider tax class and labelling requirements
Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) · regulator · retrieved 2026-08-24
Opened on 2026-08-24. The address CiderHQ had registered — ttb.gov/wine/hard-cider — now returns 404; the bureau publishes its cider material at ttb.gov/cider/cider-resources, and the record has been corrected. The substantive hard cider definition is in 27 CFR §§24.10 and 24.331, which CiderHQ cites directly and has verified to the passage; this page is the regulator’s own gateway and its industry circular pointer, not the operative text.