Cider Apples! Nursery Tour and Tasting

Cider Apple Varieties! Nursery Tour and Tasting with Steve Cummins and Autumn Stoscheck at Indian Creek Farm

Thursday October 5th 4pm-7pm

Save the Date! Tickets coming soon!

With the American cider revival well under way and hundreds of new ciders finding their way to market each year, folks are making cider with whatever apples they can get their hands on. But is it good cider?

In this interactive tour/talk tasting we’ll take a look at why it matters where and how a cider apple is grown.

If you attended this event last year, the format will be similar but the content will be new. We will be tasting cider apples of the same variety grown in different locations and with different farming methods. We’ll also taste a range of cider made from Northern Spy apples with different variables such as grower, maker and vintage.

4:00pm -5:00pm

We’ll tour Cummins Nursery and learn why you should plan 3 years ahead of planting your cider orchard and just what goes into propagating apple trees. We’ll also take a look at various planting systems and tree sizes from modern slender spindle to 100 year old full size trees and discuss their implications for cider quality.

5:00pm – 6:00pm

We’ll sit down to discuss cider apple characteristics and how they translate into cider while tasting cider varieties like Kingston Black and Ellis Bitter and cider made from these apples.

Where does a cider get it’s structure, finish and balance?

Which cider varieties best represent Finger Lakes terroir?

6:00pm – 7:00pm

Dinner and drinks! Picnic dinner by the Piggery plus a glass of Eve’s Cider, family style in the orchard.

Farmer/Chef Heather Sandford will give a brief introduction to her famous Finger Lakes charcuterie and why it pairs so well with local cider.