Tasting Notes:

honey ~ lemon curd ~ pine needles

The Story of 2020 Albee Hill

Our Albee Hill orchard is managed with bio-intensive, regenerative farming techniques and is certified organic by NOFA-NY. I say all this not as a marketing gimmick, but as an acknowledgement that this type of farming lies outside the conventional paradigm on many levels (not just an agricultural one), including economic.

Apple trees have an innate tendency toward biennial bearing, that is alternating a heavy crop with very light or no crop in alternate years. While this makes sense for a tree that is trying to evade insect pests (population numbers decline in off years for lack of food), it's a bit chaotic for farmers with mortgages and other regular bills to pay. Modern varieties (annual bearing is a must in the breeding process) and synthetic chemicals (hormone mimics which cause extra fruit to abort early in the season), or purchased fruit are not part of what we do at Eve's Cidery so we are left with years like 2020 in which nearly every single apple produced in the Albee Hill orchard went into this bottling and we only made 80 cases.

Drought and sunshine concentrated sugars and tannins and crisp fall nights increased acidity. A wild fermentation petered out at 27 grams per liter (2.7%), resulting in a perfectly balanced, concentrated cider with a firm structure. One of our best pommages.

~Autumn Stoscheck Cider Maker/ Orchardist