First week of April 2013, silver tip.
Our ciders are still
in oak barrels or they are in large glass containers in the cave. But as the cellar temperatures inch above 50
degrees I expect the cider to awaken, mirroring the activity seen on the tips
of the trees. The two are not unrelated,
in fact, cider blending and the apple blossom usually correspond because they
are both the result of ground temperatures warming in early Spring. The warmth causes renewed activity in the
cider (sometimes referred to as the malolactic fermentation, although that only
partly explains it) and for us it’s only after this change that we know the
true character of each batch.
We agree with the
Colonial practice of cider making which expects cider to reach it’s full
potential only after a full winter in cold temperatures. Just as
the trees go dormant, and the energy falls beneath the ground over winter, so
too, that happens in the barrel. Cider clears
as the air clears, and the flavors come together, for better or for worse. If you have trapped SO2, it is now
infused. If you have tannin, it too is
infused with other flavors. (On a related
note: This is why we age half our ciders in large glass containers, because we
like to infuse fruit character which is usually the first quality to dissipate
when aging, especially in oak.)
And Winter
slumbering in the open air, wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring (Phil
Connors.) We like to think of Spring as
a new beginning, and it is, but it’s really the awakening of the same earth,
the same linear time line, the same living being. We are cranky but we are rejuvenated by
winter. We have more energy. And like the birds, the bees and all the flowering
trees, we are ready to procreate. I’d
like to think that that’s what is happening in the cider too- that it is opening up to the world, it is
ready to be consumed and it is ready to overtake our sober minds. Intoxication has two meanings.
We give flowers to
one another as a show of affection, that’s not far from what nature
intends. As I look at the tree buds
swelling and showing green they are still weeks from blossom, but after the
tree is fully awake it will be ready for procreation. That’s when we blend our cider, when it is
fully emerged from the cocoon. It’s now
at it’s adult stage, and ready to find the right mate.
