Macerated Still Cider 'Cydonia' 2024

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Macerated Still Cider 'Cydonia' 2024

$23.00

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In the late 90s Ken Harnad, a former chef who loves eau de vie, planted a small orchard in Augusta County of drinking apples and pears grafted from the late Virginia pomological legend Tom Burford’s collection. Some are standard southern heirlooms, some are smuggled French/British cider varieties, and some we suspect are propagated seedlings. Ken occasionally does a copper spray pre-bloom or dormant oil in the winter but applies nothing else through the season. We chip prunings underneath the trees.
Because of Ken’s deer fence, we are able to allow the apples to reach peak ripeness and naturally “drop” off the tree. Harvest is spent sorting fruit in the grass.
Veins of limestone visibly split the silt loam. 1,100 ft elevation.

SEASON:

Cydonia is in a frost pocket, so harvest is either boom (19, 21, 24) or bust (20, 22, 23, 25). 2024 set a large crop during the second drought year in a row, producing fruit with notable phenolics. These barrels, initially intended for the 24 Bricolage blend, were pulled to be bottled separately due to this structure and the specialness of the site.

FERMENTATION AND DEVELOPMENT:

A continuous fermentation carried through September as different apples ripened: After five days of active fermentation on skins, fruit is pressed to finish in 228 L neutral French oak barrels.
Aged untouched on gross lees for 8 months. Intentionally left un-topped, each barrel develops a positive voile/flor that protects the underlying wine and contributes aromatic complexity.
Barrels were racked together and aged an additional 3+ months in a steel tank before being bottled by gravity on September 5th 2025. No SO2 additions were made.
Bottling and corking done by hand - some variation of cork depth and fill line is normal.

LAB:

ABV: 7.94% | pH: 3.79 | TA: 6.9 g/L | RS: 0.05 g/L | Added SO2: 0 ppm