In which many bottles are opened and almost none contain wine

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Brian C

Brian Campbell
So, I've been pretty excited about cider for a while, as I am both interested in fermenting things and live in the climatic equivalent of Normandy here in the PNW. There seems to be a renaissance growing but its still rare to have the opportunity to do comparative tastings so we put one together over a dinner. Last time we included a lot of the bullshit commercial draft style stuff. This time we raised the quality bar and stuck to more artisan farmhouse style.

Started with the Basques
Isastegi 2010 (6%) - not as enamel scraping as I remember. Very dry, appealing amount of bret but plenty apple-y as well. Last time I did a cider tasting it was the only Basque and stood out unfavorably. This time it was liked by most all.

Sarasola (6%) - No one was successful at pouring from 1 meter as per the diagram on the label. Nice, similar in style to the prior but a little cleaner perhaps.

Basa Juan 2009 (8%) Whoa. Smelled like it spent 6 months aging in a horse’s ass. Totally different - much richer and full bodied than the very dry acidity of the above two. This is RUS-TIC. Apples, stinky cheese rinds, horses. Surprisingly loved by most (including myself) but it’s a guilty pleasure. Even after several rinses of the glass you could still smell the bret.

Poma Aurea (Asturias) (6.5%) Very light and elegant Champagne style. Maybe resembled wine the most of any ciders on the table but in the end not enough going on to be that noteworthy.

On to the French
Cyril Zangs 2009 Cidre (6%) Yes. All that I hope for in French farmhouse cidre. Fruit, funk, balance... Makes you want to go outside for a picnic on a hillside on a clear fall day and jump in some leafpiles.

Julien Fremont 2008 “Par Natur” (5.5%) LDM import. Of course Joe would bring this. The hardest for me to procure, but for many, the cidre of the night. Everything the Zangs had but somehow more. Beautiful.

Christian Drouhin “Cidre Pays d’Auge” (4.5%) Very good but for some reason didn’t incite much discussion and was passed over pretty quickly. A good example of Norman style, complex, a kiss of bret. One of my favorites the following day as a leftover.

Etienne Dupont 2009 (5.5%) Very good, very apple-y, a reasonable amount of funk, and the best of the Duponts. I’ve had this a lot as it is the most widely available around here of the Normans. Good introduction to the style.

Etienne Dupont 2010 (5.5%) Again good, but this one was marred by sulfur.

Etienne Dupont 2010 Organic (5.5) Something went wrong here. Terrible. Smelled like burnt sugar. Didn’t taste much better.

Etienne Dupont 2009 Reserve (6.9%) Kind of struck me as a “special cuvee”, southern Rhone-style. More about impact that finesse. Fruitier and bigger framed but more is not better in this case. Good but I preferred the regular.

Eric Bordelet “Tendre” Best of the Bordelets I’ve had. Lighter and less sweet than “Doux”. Good balance, very flavorful, and a surprising amount of apple tannins here. Reminiscent of golden apples like transparents or gold delicious. Even BJ admitted to liking this.

Eric Bordelet “Poire” didn’t get to try this.

Lastly, the domestics
Finn River “Methode Champenoise” WA (8%) A little bit hyped around here but in the end pretty disappointing. Very dry, shows a bit of alcohol. Not very interesting.

Wildfire “Semisweet” WA (7.25%) Really good. Lots of apple tannin. Rich but balanced. All these lack is some funk to round out the flavors. But the apples are deep and complex. I’ve visited their orchard and they are doing good things. Certified Organic orcharding is a challenge indeed west of the cascades. A bit of a sulfur hit on this.

Alpenfire “Bittersweet” WA (7.25%) Same cidery, new name after a trademark dispute. Also good with complex flavors.

West County “Redfield” MA (6.2%) The only varietal cider on the table. Crazy copper-red color. Flavors are surprising and different, rose like strawberry notes, but somewhat confectionary. Totally unique though.

Farnum Hill “Extra Dry” NH Very dry as advertised but a bit thin (and I go for dry style ciders). Reminded two of us of some ciders we had made together (not altogether a compliment). A bit simple.

Farnum Hill “Semi Sweet NH Much more like it and much more complexity and balance. Probably the favorite of the domestics along with the wild/alpine fires.

All in all a fun night, good food, and great company. Very educational to taste them all side by side. To my tastes I think the Euros pretty much stomped the domestics.
 
It was amazing to me that wine geeks who abhor brett in wine really love the funk in the ciders.

The Basa Jaun was over the top for me.

The two dry Basque ciders were really excellent I thought, thirst quenching and appetite inducing. I could picture drinking these with a plate of jamón, or with clams in garlic and other pintxos.

Cyril Zangs had the right amount of everything and I agree with you about the Fremont. It was great, but with a fair amount of funk. Hard to decide between these two as which was my favorite of the night, but I would seek both out to buy again.

The Farnum Hill semi sweet was my favorite domestic made cider.
All the US ciders seemed super clean compared to the European ones.

Brian doesn't mention the food in his post. He and his wife prepared a super tasty and visually stunning table of foods, all from vegetables and beans they had grown on their farm. From beet carpaccio to crispy kale with roasted squash, flageolet beans with mushroom, and two pots of soup (an earthy parsnip soup that we topped with a dollop of sweeter carrot soup) that could convince most carnivores to go vegan. The roasted garlic was addictive.

Thanks again for rounding up the ciders.
 
Thanks for the notes, Brian...sounds like a great way to get to know cider in it's various manifestations. Not knowing jack about cider making in Europe, is brett a desired "ingredient" in the cider-making process? Sorta sounds like it from your notes.

Marc, thanks for filling in the menu...that was going to be my next question. (And that too, sounds delish.)
 
originally posted by Joel Stewart:
Thanks for the notes, Brian...sounds like a great way to get to know cider in it's various manifestations. Not knowing jack about cider making in Europe, is brett a desired "ingredient" in the cider-making process? Sorta sounds like it from your notes.

Marc, thanks for filling in the menu...that was going to be my next question. (And that too, sounds delish.)
Click to expand...
Joel-
re: bret, I sure doubt it in the "intended" sense. Something about the interaction with the cider flavors makes it work though (within reason). No doubt many of these had what I would consider a flaw level bret but it isn't nearly as offensive in the context.
And, for the most part ciders are drunk young so there isn't as much potential for aging disasters.
There is certainly different degrees of complexity to be found in the apple varieties used, and that was really notable amongst the domestics, but another layer seemed to be the funk. The ciders which came across as squeaky clean seemed less interesting.
 
Mme L and I have enjoyed several trips to Brittany, and the cidre is always a highlight. The oft-seen-in-the-US Dupont would merely be an also-ran over there - it seems like every town has a local fave, which is inevitably excellent. I still have pleasant memories of a lovely tasting floating on the Brittany canal below the Josselin town wall, featuring several cidres and the mme herself, and a beautiful green kingfisher entertaining us on a warm summer's afternoon.

All that said, the two cidres that really got me going were the Zangs and the Fremont, with the Fremont standing especially tall and among the best cidres I've had, in France or otherwise. Of course Joe wouldn't've messed with anything but the best.

And indeed, I did like that Bordolet tendre, but its largeness was notable after the others. Still, I don't get the buzz.

It was a great evening. Brian and mme k and r are a lovely family and great hosts, and cooks. Mme L was happy as always to see Marc and MJ and Brian and meet K and Max and Gabriel. Max and Gabriel are most excellent and intelligent connoisseurs. Kudos to Gabriel for perhaps the most thoughtful ordering of alcoholic drink I've experienced - it showed everything off at its best.

Cheers all!
 
Nice canal visual, Brad...kingfisher and all...sounds like a great time.

Brian, thanks for the info. I can imagine where brett might add an extra dimension. Will have to see what's available on the market here to try.
 
Brian and Mme K should just open up a cafe, with disorderly wine and cidre, and Calvados hot toddies.

I'd go there every night.
 
Just to be politically, ethnically and geographically correct: Asturias and the Basque Country = no relation.
 
Great lineup! We did a similar tasting a couple of years ago in Detroit. Though we couldn't gather quite as many bottles as you did here the results were pretty much the same -- domestic cider has a long way to go. Despite being a major apple growing state, Michigan has few ciders that even come close to European. I believe many local producers are doing what they can with mostly dessert apples and the results are just plain boring.

That said, on the domestic front, I have been pounding bottles of Farnum Hill semi-dry lately. What a superbly balanced cider. It has enough complexity to remain interesting through a session without freaking out folks that aren't accustomed to flavor in their drinks. Gateway cider.
 
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