20 ‘QUAKER RUN’

Madison County

Ancestral Method Cider

62 Cases Produced

pH: 4.05 | TA: 5.0 g/L | ABV: 8.30% | Total SO2: 0 ppm

All fruit ferments without modification. Ciders are unfined and unfiltered.

Artwork:

  • A graphic representation of the recorded temperatures in Madison for September 2020; purple streaks represent days with precipitation

 Fruit/Site:

  • 30% Roxbury Russet, 25% Ashmead’s Kernel, 19% Black Twig, 14% Grimes Golden, 12% Gold Rush from Quaker Run Orchard in Madison, VA.  Clay loam with quartz and greenstone gravel, 950’ elevation.

  • Quaker Run is a former commercial orchard dating back to the 19th century. Current owners Tom and Debbie Flynn still maintain a few rows of mature apple trees.

Season:

  • 2020 taught us why most of the old commercial orchard sites east of the Blue Ridge were planted below 1000’ elevation: late spring frosts claimed almost all fruit in the mountains but spared those further down the slopes.

  • A leaner growing season and additional rains around harvest shifted our cellar techniques: instead of producing a still cider as in 2019, we bottled before sugar depletion to capture energy and used longer lees contact in bottle to build texture.

Fermentation/Development:

  • Tom and Patrick picked the apples from early September to mid October. Fruit was left outside in bins for two to four weeks to further concentrate.

  • A continuous fermentation carried through harvest as each variety ripened: sorted fruit soaked overnight on skins before being pressed into a neutral 350 L French oak barrel, poly tank, and glass demijohns. These various components were then blended to finish fermenting in bottle.

  • Bottles aged on lees for sixteen months before being riddled and disgorged by hand in early May 2022. No SO2 additions were made.

Tasting:

  • Lime zest, dried apple, marzipan, caraway seed