Last weekend, we finally had a chance to hit Foggy Ridge Cider, which I was super excited about. I have seen Foggy Ridge at a couple of local markets but also at some Organic stores in Northern VA. So it being their opening weekend and only an hour away, I figured it was going to be awesome!
What really surprised me, was how small of an operation it was- they have won top cider in the country by the New York Times, and yet they are probably two trailer size large, 10 acres of orchards. Foggy Ridge owners, a couple who left banking and came out to South West VA because they loved the area, first bought the land in 1998 and their first hard cider production was about 5 years later.
It is a pretty small operation in that Diane Flynt, the owner, compares it a lot to wine making. There are certain type of apples that are eating apples and others that are better for cider. Though Applacachia, VA has some of the most diverse growing apple areas, many apples struggle due to the hot summers. From Late-August until November, Diane will constantly be in the orchard, measuring the sugar levels and deciding when to pick. Fermenting takes anywehre from 6-8 weeks and then the cider is bottled by hand.
Foggy Ridge's cider is not the same every bottle, it is similar to wine making in that every little thing affects the final product. Foggy Ridge actually puts their cider in wine bottles due to that reason. They actually have more wine taste than the normal cider taste. Foggy Ridge has 30 different types of American, English and French apples on their orchards. They say they are ugly to look at it and hard to grow but the tannins, acid and aroma are ideal for cider.
We sampled 6 different ciders:
Serious Cider- This is their dry cider, aka no added sugar and more apple wine. According to their tasting notes "Comparable to a Brut Champagne. The high tannin apples in this blend, the acidity and CO2 add to the perception of dryness. This blend includes astringent English apples such as Dabinnet and Tremlett's Bitter, as well as Ashmead's Kernel, a high acid apple "not for sissies." Creamy fatty flavors, such as Triple Creme cheese or pork schnitzel pair well. It wont a gold medal in 2008. Personally I loved this cider. The pourer told me this is similar to what they would have had in colonial times or Thomas Jefferson would have had. It is known for cutting fat but it was very dry. Had the tartness of a green apple, which I loved. It was dry and just great mouth feel, a lot of different apple flavors coming out. Definitely my favorite. (I bought this one)
Foggy Ridge Cider Handmade- This is the creation of entering cider during the craft beer period of this area and the country. This was created for the craft beer community and has more artisan flair and more beer tendencies. It comes in more a beer bottle. It had kind of a rotten apple smell. It is apparently a good eating apple, as well as drinking. Their notes "Artisan cider at its best. Blended primarly with Virginia grown Newton Pippin apples. The subtle soft tannisn add body to the frsh fruit flavor and crisp acidity of this cider." It was a solid cider, good mouth feel, almsot tropical tendencies so it would be good in the summer. It was kind of too tart and sour for me however.
First Fruit- this one is actually made of fruit from a break off from the trees of Monticello- so good old TJ's apples. From their notes "First fruit is fruiter and more "apple aromatic" than Serious Cider, yet because of the acid from Hewe's Crabapples reads "tart" rather than sweet. Early season American heilooms like Harrison, Graniwinkle and Jefferson's favorites. Hewe's Crab, make up this blend. First fruit has the most medals and awards. My notes was it was very classic cider, exactly what I would expect from a dryer cider. Nothing really complex, very smooth, still delicous, but nothing different.
Sweet Stayman- This one, we were told, is much more of a wine similar to the first one, not very sweet despite the name. Thier notes: "Mde with the true old fashioned Stayman apple, is comparable to a Riesling wine. This cider is tart with full apple flabor from a blend of Stayman, Cox's Orange Pippin, Grimes Golden and a modern apple, Gold Rush. Sweet Stayman excels pairing with spicy food such as BBQ. I really enjoyed this cider. It had a lot of flavor, a lot going on but not too much. Like a solid apple fruit salad. It was delicous, not overpowering, not overly sweet, but way more than the First Fruit (I bought this one.)
Pippin Gold Dessert Cider: This and the last one were the curve balls I was not expecting. Their Notes:"Pippin Gold is an apple port, made from a blend of hard cider and apple brandy. Fermented 100% Newtown Pippin apples, added unoaked apple brandy from Virginia brandy maker. Stainless steel aged for 9 months before final blending and bottling." This was the curve ball. It was unbelievably smooth. More iced wine, dessert wine. They actually start with frozen apples, they find it fermets and gets better taste in this type of wine. High in alcohol at 18%. It had an amazing nose, just great apple and oaky flavors. It was more a port than a cider. Definitely a wine. It was syrupy, smooth and just beautifully blended with the brandy. This is better than any Orange Muscat I have ever had either. It was not very sweet for being a desert but it was perfectly balanced. (My boyfriend bought this)
Pippin Black Dessert Cider: This was their rare cider, which they only have occasionally because they make it the same as the Gold, they make it with Arkansas black brandy, which is not always available. It also aged for 18 months over Hungarian Oak in steel barrels. It has a very sweet apple, almost apple pie flavor. You can taste the brandy and the apple is very thick. They say it makes a great cocktail with the Serious Cider. It was too much alochol and too much heat for me, I preffered the Gold. But the Black was pretty good too.
The coolest part about this expierence was just how cozy it was. It was a gorgeous day and the orchard was just open, so we bought our glass of our favorites, walked through the orchard, felt the mountain breezed and I realized I do not want to leave this part of the Virginia. It was so relaxing and it's amazing how small this place was and yet they are making some amazing ciders that are being nationally recognized. They have tons of awards, articles written about them and yet they are off a gravel road in the mountains. Crazy.
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| Two of 6 Vats! |
They use a very basic press, they only have about 7 vats in use to actually age and add CO2 and then they bottle by hand. Its a very basic cider creation however they hand craftness of each bottle and each make is noticed and it makes this cider unique and different. I loved this expeirence and may be buying more from them.
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| Out in the Orchard with a glass! |
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| Their bigger press |
The pasta didn't help or hurt it. The wine was too alcholic and the sauce did not cut it. Maybe a more creamier sauce would have been better. I just didn't like the Chianti which may be the whole reason it was not a good pairing or good anything.
The smell was not a lot going on, very light with hints of apricot. It was very floral, almost all flowers and then very syrupy smell. The taste was very apricoty but really sweet. It was too flowerly as well for me. The tart blackberry pie took out some of the sweetness which I liked and it became more citrus with the pie. The buttery/tart pie also took away the floral tones. The wine definitely needed the tart/not sweet pie though. We decided California Moscato seems too sweet and prefer Italian.
