Tasting notes: poached pear ~ vanilla ~ wool
This cider has become a mainstay in recent years. Essentially, everytime a cider gets racked (moved from one tank to another), the lees (the yeasty portion that gets left behind) are added to a “lees tank”. By allowing the collected cider to sit for a very long time, the yeast will settle out a bit more, leaving one last portion to rack. The resulting cider has the following characteristics:
-It's a blend of every tank we made in that season and often includes both apple and pear and both farm-grown fruit and wild-foraged fruit,
-The cider develops character from contact with the lees.
-There's always a little bit of funk.
We liked the way the lees cider tasted so much we decided to bottle it. The 2022 version of Orchards and Pastures is about 30% wild foraged pear and 70% apples grown on our farm. Fermented in stainless steel with wild and commercial yeast. Secondary fermentation in-bottle followed by disgorging.