2020 DARLING CREEK
Traditional Method Dry Cider
$18 | 750 ml
Tasting notes: tart cherry, espresso, shearling
Serving Suggestion:
Ezra says pair this one with tandoori chicken or pretty much anything grilled and spicy. A big cider for flavorful food.
The Story of Darling Creek 2020
The 2021 Darling Creek is a complicated cider. Complicated because it’s production flummoxed and challenged us. Complicated because, although it is a similar blend of apples to many of our past versions, its flavor is radically difficult. And complicated because it is truly a complex cider.
2020 was a drought year, and the apples had concentrated flavors. The high sugar converted to high alcohol, but the high acid hung around and made it hard to find a balanced blend. On top of that, challenges during the fermentation led to a bit of acetic acid formation, contributing to the overall too-much-acid feeling.
As we began to see how the ‘21 harvest was shaping up, we decided it might be fun to see what blending a small amount of it into Darling Creek would be like. The intense acidity was softened with a newly fermented and lovely batch of Ellis Bitter. We decided to blend in 15% of the new vintage in accordance with TTB rules for vintage dating (although there is no vintage dating for cider) . The result? A constantly unfolding multilayered cider with tons of acidity and tannin underpinning fruit, flowers, spice and animal and earth.
Autumn Stoscheck Cider Maker/ Orchardist
Apple Varieties:
This cider is made entirely from apples grown in our biointensively managed orchards and blended in the following ratio:
Acidity (57%) Krys, Bramley’s Seedling, Northern Spy, Cox Orange Pippin, Akane
Aromatics (35%)Tydeman’s Early Worcester, Liberty, Idared
Texture (12%)Ellis Bitter, Somerset Redstreak
Production Notes:
- Primary fermentation in stainless steel and neutral oak.
- Wild yeast primary fermentation.
- Filtered and bottled with tirage.
- In-bottle secondary fermentation followed by hand disgorging.
- 265 cases bottled