Bringing sugars, acids and tannins into a harmonized whole – punctuated by an ineffable aromatic essence – is the goal of our exhaustive sampling, blending and aging. We begin by tasting hundreds of different apples, both wild and cultivated, each harvest season. Some have enough intensity and character to become good cider on their own while others are better complemented by the peaches, plums, grapes, elderberries and aronia we grow here on the farm. All the fruit is hand picked before being pressed through wooden racks and cotton cloths. These natural materials allow us to cultivate latent wild yeasts on the fruit skins for a unique native fermentation that is the underlying driver of our cidermaking. The juice is cold fermented through the winter for 3-5 months before aging in oak barrels for another 2-8 months, depending on the cider variety. Throughout the process, we avoid pasteurization, sulfites, sorbates or micro-filtering so that we maintain the native yeasts and malo-lactic cultures, ensuring that our cider remains a living beverage that will evolve in the bottle over time.
Learn where to find Whaleback Farm Cider on our website.