2019 ‘Quaker Run’

Quaker Run Orchard, Madison County

Still Cider, 750 mL

43 Cases Produced

pH: 4.01 TA: 3.3 g/L ABV: 8.4% TSO2: 68 ppm

All fruit ferments without modification with ambient yeasts. Ciders are unfined and unfiltered.

Artwork:

  • A graphic representation of the temperatures recorded in Madison County for September 2019; the purple streaks are the only days with precipitation.

Fruit/Site:

  • 38% Roxbury Russet, 34% Ashmead’s Kernel, 17% Grimes Golden, 11% Black Twig. 

  • Clay loam with quartz and greenstone gravel, 950’ elevation.

  • While most of the site has been replanted to vineyards, Tom and Debbie Flynn still maintain a few rows of mature apple trees.  Light spring sprays, hand thinning, summer kaolin clay.

Season:

  • A flash drought in September and early October caused rapid ripening, pushing harvest dates early.  Tom and I picked the Grimes, and Tom harvested everything else himself.

  • This cider is a conscious attempt to emphasize what the warm Virginia climate offers in a dry year: depth of fruit with fuller texture.

Fermentation/Development:

  • Fruit sweated at ambient temperatures, and was then crushed and direct-pressed to ferment into one used 350 L French oak barrel and two glass demijohns.

  • Barrel: weekly batonnage with fine lees for 1.5 months; demijohns: undisturbed on gross lees.  

  • 6 months in barrel, 3 months in bottle prior to release.

Tasting:

  • Mirabelle plum, pistachio, beeswax, bergamot