2013/17 POMMEAU
SOLD OUT Concentrated Juice Barrel-Aged with Apple Eau de Vie and Blended with Bittersweet Cider
$32 | 500 ml
Strong aromas of brandied apples balance with undercurrents of bittersweet fruit, apple crate, funnel cake, and fresh-cut mint. The funnel cake and brandied apples carry through to the palate, with notes of nutty sherry, caramel apples, and the deeper acidity of boiled cider syrup joining in. The finish has echoes of powdered sugar, toasted nuts, and a lingering bittersweet astringency.
Serving Suggestion:
Pair this cider with homemade cinnamon doughnuts, vanilla panna cotta, or nothing at all.
The Story of Pommeau 2013/17
What is pommeau? A product typical of Normandy, France, made by blending aged apple spirit called Calvados with apple juice to make an sweet apéritif.
In 2013, we thought it would be fun to try our hand at making pommeau. We bought apple spirits from Dave DeFisher in Williamson, NY and blended them with our own apple juice that had been concentrated through freezing outside in the winter. The blend was fruity and nice...maybe too nice. We thought it tasted good, but not good enough to bottle and sell so we stuck it in old oak barrels, tucked it away in the back of the cidery, and forgot about it.
This year, our love of Calvados was reinvigorated after consuming several lovely (and old) bottles and we thought it would be nice to distill bittersweet cider and stick it in barrels for 20 years to give to our children as an inheritance. So: back up to Dave's, this time with our own bittersweet cider. To our astonishment, the spirit that came off the still was so reminiscent of Calvados (minus the age)...my favorite smell, the smell of the orchard in late fall, the last of the forgotten apples beginning to soften in the damp leaves.
So then we had an idea! Blend the the 5 year old pommeau, which by now had taken on some lovely qualities of barrel aging, with the exceptional bittersweet spirit, and a bit of dry, tannic cider for depth. The result is a 2013 pommeau, blended with a 2017 spirit, with layers of complexity.
Autumn Stoscheck Cider Maker/ Orchardist
Apple Varieties:
- Juice: Our 2013 ice cider field blend of Jonagold, Idared, Fuji, Mutsu, Spigold, and Melrose
- Spirits: Selected tanks of bittersweet cider, including Ellis Bitter, Dabinett and Yarlington Mill.
- Cider: 49% Dabinett, 33% Northern Spy, 16% Spigold
Production Notes:
- 2013: Concentrated juice and apple eau de vie blended and barreled to begin aging
- 2016: Dabinett & Spy cider produced, with some reserved for blending
- 2014-17: Specific tanks selected and put aside for distillation
- 2018: Fresh eau de vie and dry bittersweet cider blended with 5yo pommeau, then bottled
- 94 cases bottled
Numbers:
- Residual Sugar 13.3%
- Alc/Vol 19.4%