Sensory descriptor
Hedgerow
A mixed green-and-floral note combining leaf volatiles with faint blossom and a damp edge, common in wild-fermented cider.
Also called Hedge, Green hedgerow.
- Aroma family
- Herbal and vegetal
- Does it indicate a fault?
- It depends on the style it is met in
What causes it
Hedgerow is a composite descriptor for the perception produced when green-leaf aldehydes, low levels of terpene alcohols and traces of the earthy compounds associated with wild yeast activity arrive together. It is characteristic of spontaneously fermented cider, where the early phase is dominated by Hanseniaspora and Metschnikowia species whose metabolic products differ from those of Saccharomyces and include a broader range of minor volatiles. The damp component comes from the same wild-microflora activity that at higher intensity produces the earthy family.
The compounds responsible
Where the molecule is established. Some descriptors in this lexicon name a compound the compound register does not yet hold a record for; those are named in the cause above instead.
Terpenes
The floral and citrus aroma compounds that apples carry only in traces and that hops, spices and botanicals bring in quantity, which is why a hopped cider smells so different from an unhopped one.
trans-2-Hexenal
The sharper, more penetrating green aldehyde of the same pathway as hexanal, made from linolenic rather than linoleic acid, and a marker of underripe fruit.
Higher alcohols
The group of larger alcohols yeast makes from amino acids, welcome as background complexity in trace and harsh and solvent-like in quantity.
What raises it
Processes that increase this character, or preserve it where it would otherwise be lost.
Wild fermentation
Letting the microflora already present on the fruit and in the press house carry the ferment, in a succession rather than as a single organism.
Microbial succession
The ordered handover of a spontaneous ferment from apiculate yeasts to *Saccharomyces* to lactic acid bacteria, and the spoilage organisms waiting at the end of it.
Fermentation vessels
The container a cider ferments in — wood, stainless, plastic, glass or concrete — and how its permeability, thermal mass and resident microflora shape the result.
Lees ageing
Deliberately holding a cider or perry on its fine yeast deposit so that autolysing cells release material that changes texture and foam behaviour.
Where it is usually met
Fruit and styles this character is recorded in. A record here is where the descriptor is commonly found, not a claim that every example shows it.
About Hedgerow
Hedgerow is a genuinely useful term for wild-fermented cider because the perception really is composite and no single component accounts for it. Attempts to resolve it into a specific fruit or flower usually produce disagreement across a panel.
It sits between the herbal and earthy families and shades into farmyard as wild character intensifies. Where volatile phenols become measurable the descriptor to reach for is a phenolic one.
Others in the herbal and vegetal family
Hay, grass, hedgerow, green leaf.
Hay
A dry, sweet-grassy note from coumarin and degraded green-leaf volatiles, characteristic of traditional farmhouse cider.
Black tea
A dry, tannic, faintly leafy note from polymerised procyanidins with mild oxidative development.
Cut grass
A sharp green note from cis-3-hexenol and cis-3-hexenal, the same green-leaf volatiles released by mown grass.
Straw
A dry, dusty, cereal-like note from advanced degradation of green volatiles in aged cider.
Nettle
A sharp green-vegetal note with a faint sulphurous edge, met in early-picked and reductively handled cider.
What people ask next
Questions readers ask about the things this page mentions. Each one goes to the section that answers it rather than to a page written to receive the question.
- How does cider ferment — Yeast consumes the sugar in apple juice and produces roughly equal masses of ethanol and carbon dioxide, along with the esters and higher alcohols that give cider much of its aroma. In a wild ferment several yeast species take turns before *Saccharomyces* finishes the job.
- What should i ferment cider in — Anything inert, cleanable and closable: glass demijohns, food-grade plastic, stainless steel, or a wooden cask if you can keep it sound. Vessel shape and material change how much oxygen the cider sees and how fast it clears.
- What are fusel alcohols in cider — They are the higher alcohols yeast makes from amino acids rather than from sugar, mostly amyl alcohols. They carry weight and warmth of aroma, and in Asturian cider they run to a couple of hundred milligrams per litre.
- What is a traditional west country cider blend — Predominantly bittersweet fruit for body and tannin, with a proportion of sharp fruit for acidity and sometimes a smaller share of bittersharps for both. The exact composition varied by farm and by what was in the orchard.
- What is welsh cider
- What is wild fermented cider
Where to go next
- The sensory model — The thirteen structural dimensions and the twenty aroma families, in full.
- Compounds — The chemistry behind the words.
- Troubleshooting — When a perception turns out to be a problem, this is where it is diagnosed.
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.
Peer-reviewed literature on cider fermentation microbiology
Various journals · peer-reviewed literature · registered as competent for this subject
Covers the microbial succession of spontaneous cider fermentation, the role of non-Saccharomyces yeasts in the early stages, malolactic conversion by Oenococcus and Lactobacillus species, and the organisms behind the principal spoilage faults.
The Science of Cidermaking and associated technical writing
Andrew Lea · reference work · passage verified 2026-08-24
Written by a food chemist who worked at Long Ashton on apple phenolics. Unusual among specialist cider writing in that it is primary-research-adjacent: the author is describing work he did, and cites the literature. This is why it is registered at tier 1 for chemistry while a general cider book is not.
WPCS · specialist organisation · retrieved 2026-08-24
Documents Welsh cider and perry traditions and has done substantial work identifying and conserving Welsh perry pear cultivars that were close to being lost.