Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/369547
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m S e p t - O c t 2 014 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 1 0 1 their first Foggy Ridge ciders on the market in 2005, they ignited an artisan cider movement in Virginia that now reaches across the coun- try. Cider producers even have their own trade show, CiderCON, which launched in 2011 and takes place each year in Chicago. Consumer interest in hard cider caught the eye of the beer compa- nies, which have moved into the market in a big way. The best-sell- ing brand in the United States today is Angry Orchard, owned by Boston Beer Co. MillerCoors acquired the popular Crispin brand in 2012 and introduced Smith & Forge cider ear- lier this year, while Anheuser-Busch InBev introduced Stella Artois Cidre to the U.S. market and launched its own domestic brand, Johnny App- leseed, earlier this year. Another macro brand, Woodchuck Cider, is owned by Irish beer giant C&C. According to Crain's Chicago Busi- ness, the beer companies were determined not to let the hard cider bandwagon pass them by the way craft brewing did. "Cider is a niche in the beverage market," Flynt said. "Artisan cider is an alcove inside a niche." Just how small an alcove? Carol Miles of Washington State Univer- sity and Greg Peck of Virginia Tech surveyed 105 producers attending this year's CiderCON and found that 37% produced between 1,000 and 5,000 gallons of cider in 2013, while only about 10% produced more than 50,000 gallons. Lacking the distribution network of the large beer companies, Flynt had to peddle her ciders the hard way, pouring them for retailers and sommeliers. Foggy Ridge ciders are available along the East Coast, and Flynt has participated in cider- themed promotions in New York. Earlier this year, she presented Foggy Ridge ciders at the James Beard House paired with a Chinese New Year banquet cooked by star chef Peter Chang. WINE INDUSTRY ALLIANCE Along the way, Flynt had help from the Virginia Wine Board, a state-sponsored organization that heavily promotes Virginia's boom- ing wine industry. It was an easy alliance: Virginia licenses cider works as farm wineries, and the Wine Board quickly welcomed and helped promote the growth of Vir- ginia cider. Today, there are eight licensed cider producers in Virgin- ia, with three more in the planning stages, and Flynt serves on the 10-member Wine Board. "The fact that Virginia cider- "You just can't make great cider with Red Delicious or Gran- ny Smith," said Diane Flynt of Foggy Ridge. Cider apples are more tannic and acidic than "eat- ing" apples, and provide much more complexity to the finished cider. Just as fine wine shouldn't taste "grapey," artisan cider shouldn't taste "apple-y." Most U.S. apple production long ago concentrated on eat- ing apples. Flynt and other arti- sanal cider makers search for traditional English varieties or those planted during Colonial times and painstakingly plant new orchards. Foggy Ridge's o r c h a r d h a s v a r i e t i e s t h a t today's supermarket shoppers likely have never heard of, such as Drymock Red, Foxwhelp and Orange Pippin. Flynt obtained her original budwood for Hewe's Virginia Crab apples from Monti- cello, where Thomas Jefferson grew the variety to make cider. (Early America's most famous oenophile drank more cider than wine.) Flynt also buys Stayman and Newtown Pippin from near- by growers. T h e b r o t h e r- s i s t e r t e a m of Chuck and Charlotte Shel- ton at Albemarle CiderWorks also works to revive traditional cider apple varieties. Their Vin- tage Virginia Apples Co. grows about 100 varieties, many of them heirloom, and serves as a nursery for startup growers and cider producers. They are espe- cially fond of Harrison, a variety developed two centuries ago in New Jersey and thought extinct until it was rediscovered in the 1970s. Albemarle's Jupiter's Legacy is a full-bodied cider blended from 30 varieties of apples and named for Jefferson's slave who was responsible for cider pro- duction at Monticello. F o r c i d e r p r o d u c e r s t h a t don't already have their own orchards, a shortage of cider apples may be brewing. Already in limited supply, the amount of available cider apples will only get smaller as more producers enter the market. Even if higher prices resulting from increased demand compel U.S. farmers to plant more trees, it will take years for new orchards to be developed. – D.M. VARIETY COUNTS Cider apple varieties, such as Trem- lett's Bitter, are very different from culinary apples. Photo: Foggy Ridge Cider