Eric Bordelet, Ex-sommelier of the three-star Arpège restaurant in Paris, was the first to point out to me that apple wine or sidra, cidre or cider, is not just a liquid designed to scratch your throat and flush your kidneys. The sydres or poirés, gently sparkling beverages made on the border between Normandy and Brittany, are aimed at wine lovers. Connoisseurs will also be attracted to Canadian Cidre de Glace, high-quality ice wine made from apples, these can easily hold their own against many cousins produced from grapes, and they always find a ready market. But there are developments in Germany, too. The sparkling wine made from the Champagne baking pear produced by Jörg Geiger was presented to me separately as a new discovery by two friends from Düsseldorf and Karlsruhe, and rightly so. They had awakened by curiosity, and when I received an invitation to attend Sicèr, the 1st international apple wine fair, held in Asturia, I spontaneously agreed to go.

A religion called Sidra

On the eve of the fair, which took place in Gijon from the 3rd to the 6th of May, I was strolling through the city on the Atlantic coast, which is located in a beautiful bay with fine sandy beaches and consists mainly of unsightly apartment blocks,  with my French colleague Michel Smith. The architecture was quickly forgotten once we started investigating the first bars. Each of these had on offer a dozen or more wines sold by the glass (and attractive tall glasses at that) at consumer-friendly prices. Godello from Valdeorras, Verdejo from Rueda, the ever-popular Albariño from Rias-Baixas, Mencia from El Bierco and row upon row of reds, mainly from Rioja and Ribera del Duero. With each glass, the guest is offered a small snack, such as tortilla or chorixo, jamón or dressed tuna. A small gourmetÂ’s paradise in a familiar atmosphere.

Fermentation barrels for Sidra (at Trabanco)

Business is just as brisk in the Sidrerias, where waiters are constantly uncorking bottles, which they then hold high over their heads with an outstretched arm, to pour the contents into the special thin-walled, beaker-shaped Sidra glasses, which helps to release the full aromas of the Asturian apple wines. The glasses are filled to about one-fifth, a portion called a culin, and those in the know will down the naturally hazy, white-foamed Sidra in a single gulp, then turns the glass on its head and allows the last few drops to fall on the floor. In a double sense, there is thus no opportunity for the air to become too dry in a Sidreria, and at a price of no more than 2,50 € per litre, customers can afford to quench their thirst. Here, Sidra is a religion. Could there be a more appropriate location for an apple wine fair?

An appellation with 300 varieties

Driven by journalistic curiosity, we set out on our own the next morning to find out more about the national drink of Asturia, and took a taxi to the Trabanco cellars in the village of Lavandera, only a few kilometres from Gijon. This is the second largest apple wine producer in Asturia, and owns some 65.000 apple trees, located within a radius of 40 kilometres around the cellar. Some of the orchards include old trees more than a 100 years old, while other orchards have been established more recently as part of a programme to rehabilitate old and abandoned open-cast coal mines. The few orchards we saw in the immediate vicinity of Gijon appeared not to be well tended. As is the case in Normandy, the Asturians and their Basque neighbours work with a mixture of apple varieties – there are 300 in Asturia – that are divided into sweet, bittersweet and sour categories. If the apples are sourced from Asturia, the Sidra is entitled to a Denominación de Origen. However, the trees bear in a two-year cycle, so that, when necessary, apples are also bought in from Normandy or from the Czech Republic.

Production takes place from September to December. The apples are either picked by machine, or picked up from the ground by hand. They are then washed, crushed and filled into traditional hydraulic presses, with a single pressing in a 10.000 kilogramme press taking three days. The solids are allowed to settle for 24 hours, the must is then filled into either large chestnut barrels or into stainless steel tanks, and fermented completely dry at low temperatures – the temperature at Trabanco is controlled – using natural yeasts, over a period of two to three months. The regulations specify that it must be bottled within a year of production – where this is not possible, the previous year’s sidra is added to the fresh must of the next vintage. The challenge is to blend different batches produced from different varieties in such a way that a well-balanced sidra with a typical house style is produced.

The table presses at Trabanco, with a capacity of 10.000kg each

Naturally cloudy Sidra Natural has a more or less intensive, tart or more elegant apple aroma, tastes rather tart and acidic, refreshing, and shows more or less body and length on the palate, depending on the quality. The Sidra must always be poured in the traditional manner, in a stream and from a great height. A distinction is made between standard qualities, for which various different types of apples from different sources are used, and special selections, for which specific varieties are selected. There is also the clear Sidra Filtrada, specifically aimed at the restaurant trade, for which the pouring ceremony is not required, as well as bottle-fermented sidras and special blends with some residual sugar. In total, some 50 million litres of sidra are produced in Asturia annually, of which four fifths are enjoyed locally, while the remainder is exported to countries with an immigrant Asturian population, mainly to Mexico.

16 Llagares, around half the apple wine producers in Asturia, were represented at the fair, their stands were often besieged by local wholesalers and merchants. The naturally cloudy sidra was squirted into the beakers in the traditional style at the Palacio de Exposiciones in Gijon. Here visitors could form their impressions of the quality of sidras on offer, these ranged from undrinkable examples, heavily sulphured or dominated by high levels of acetic acid, to intense, crisp, concentrated apple wines with a long finish. We were particularly impressed by the Trabanco Manzana Seleccionada and the same cellar’s sparkling wine Poma Àurea, as well as by the Sidra Sopeña Selección produced by El Gobernardor, which underlined the fact that the largest producers are producing many of the best quality sidras. Of the smaller producers, I particularly enjoyed the Sidra Zapica by Buznego, and the Tareco by the Casería San Juan del Opisco, which is matured in bottle for 18 months. The high acetic acid content of the sidras from the Basque country posed rather a problem form y taste-buds.

Ice wines from the apple orchard

In total, 60 producers from eleven countries as well as from the Spanish provinces of Asturia, Galicia, the Basque region and Navarra presented their apple wines at the Gijon fair. The Mexican Bodegas Copa de Oro, initially founded by an Asturian emigrant, remained close to the traditional Spanish style in spite of using the exotic apple variety Winter Banana, with the exception of an amusing rosé blend containing 20% of Cabernet Sauvignon. The Nikka Whisky Distilling Co. from Japan presented highly perfumed cidres from the Fuji variety, also including a rosé. „Exotic“ is the only word for the products of the Californian Cider Company, these are made from bought-in juices, and are pepped up with various natural flavours.

Fermentation cellar with temperature-controlled oak barrels (at Trabanco)

On the other hand, wine freaks found many interesting products at the Canadian stands, where the Cidre de Glace is obviously enjoying as much of a boom as are the ice wines made from grapes. The climate in Québec makes it possible. Wine-making pioneer Christian Barthomeuf began working on their production in 1989, attracting the interest of his friend, the film producer François Pouliot, who was the first – today assisted by his partner, the artist Stéphanie Beaudoin – to make Ice Cider popular, beginning in 1994. Today there are around 50 producers in Quebec. The production involves either leaving the apple must outdoors, where temperatures can go as low as minus 25°C, allowing it to freeze, then separating must and water when it is thawed – a natural cryo-extraction – or the apples are picked while frozen, which equates to a cryo-extraction – or both methods are combined. Fermentation takes from six to eight months. Depending on the method, a greater or lesser amount of fruit sugar is retained, at alcohol levels of between 9 and 12%, and a high acid content.

Pouliots La Face Cachée de la Pomme presented three apple-based ice wines with increasing contents of residual sugar: the Neige, made from 80% McIntosh and 20% Spartan, the Frimas, obtained by cryo-extraction from Golden Russett and various ancient varieties, highly concentrated and superbly balanced, as well as the Neige éternelle, which is matured for several weeks after picking, then cryo-extracted, this has prominent spicy and floral notes, and sensational length.

The largest producer is the Domaine Pinnacle, founded in 2000, which has engaged the services of Christian Barthomeuf as winemaker. It claims to have invented sparkling ice wine. Of much greater interest ist he non-sparkling version, with the characteristic aroma of toffee apples, an interesting play between acidity and sweetness, and tremendous length. (Distributed by Cognac Camus in 28 countries).

The Domaine Leduc-Piedimonte, founded by Robert McKeown and Andreé St-Denis in 2004, presented a convincing maiden vintage. Apart from the elegant Cidre Mousseux, the Cidre de Glace with its intense ripe fruit and honeyed note, as well as the really well-made Reserve Privée, fermented in new barriques, with spicy oak and highly concentrated, and very harmonious, were all very successful.

Celtic classics

Asturia and the Basque region are considered to bet he cradle of apple wine, which spread particularly to other Celtic regions, such as Brittany and Normandy, as well as on the other side of the English Channel. Six British producers presented their products, most of them classified their ciders in the categories dry, medium and sweet. Aspall from Suffolk and Thatcher from Somerset presented good quaffing ciders, easy drinking with clean fruit, refreshing beverages also available in supermarkets. The really crisp, chunky, artisanal farmhouse ciders were not represented in Gijon. Quite charming were the aperitif and dessert ciders blended from apple juicy and self-distilled apple brandy, presented by the Somerset Brandy Company, the 15 years old Cider Brandy would put many competitors in the Calvados category to shame.

Vinification cellar at Sidreria Trabanco

There were five French apple estates, presenting excellent wines full of character, worthy representatives of their long tradition. They ranged from the Cidres Bouchés of the Vergers de la Chapelle and of the Ferme de l’Hermitière, with this company’s Demi-Sec with a residual sugar content of 20 g/l showing great finesse and harmony, right up to the complex Reserve of the Domaine Familial Louis Dupont, which completes its fermentation over a period of six months in an old Calvados barrel. Duponts Cidre de Givre, produced using cryo-extraction, had a convincing, attractive honeyed note and a high degree of concentration. Whereas the best examples from Normandy are all about balance, which involves the blending of sweet, bittersweet and sour varieties, the Appellation Cornouaille from the Finistère region shows a totally different profile. Here the balance is achieved mainly by carefully blending sweet and bittersweet varieties. Christian Troullecs Cedrerie du Pays Melenig demonstrated how this approach can produce full-bodied, tannic apple wines with a long finish.

That one can justifiably speak about terroir when discussing Normandy and Brittany was best demonstrated by Eric Bordelet, who implements biodynamic principles in his orchards, with his Sydre Argelette and Poiré Granit. The former is sourced from old high-trained trees growing on a slate soil, which ensures the elegantly sparkling wine is tremendously intense, with elegant mineral notes. The pears for the latter wine were sourced from trees up to 300 years old, on granite soils. It is characterised by racy acidity, as well as even more prominent mineral notes. By the way, both of these wines have excellent maturation potential, which can also be used as a quality criterion for all high-quality apple wines.

A fresh wine from German orchards

Sidra is supplied to bars and restaurants by the case

Franz Reisinger from Austria showed the flag for his country with his extremely fruity Cidre Cuvée Superieur, which contains one half table fruit. His strawberry and apricot nectars are also extremely popular in Germany. The three Italian producers did not impress, while the Swiss producers had more of interest to offer. The Mosterei Möhl, which fills its juice (Saft, or juice, is the Swiss term for apple wine) into attractive returnable bottles with a flip-top, showed that large producers can produce good quality. The same producer also makes quite a good de-alcoholised “juice”. High-quality, individualistic sparkling apple wines were presented by the small producer Cidre Le Vulcan in the hilly Montbovon region in the Gruyère district.

 
After Asturia, the second-largest delegation came from Germany, and the twelve German representatives made it clear they enjoyed being in Gijon. They presented a wide spectrum of products, from standard, tart to neutral but clean products, such as those of the Kelterei Hoppe cellars in Brechen, the Kelterei Jörg Stier cellars in Maintal and the Kelterei Elm cellars in Flieden, which processes biologically-farmed fruit from the UNESCO-recognised biosphere reserve in the Rhön region, to more sophisticated products. Jürgen Krenzer is also based in the Rhön region, where he matures his unusual apple sherries (15,5% alcohol content) in a solera or in whisky barrels. These take some getting used to.

Robert McKeown and Andrée St-Denis presenting their ice cidre of the Domaine Leduc-Piedimonte

The Odenwald region was strongly represented by three apple wine producers. Apple wine sommelier and apple wine bar owner Michael Stöckl presented Dieter Walzers excellent „Apfelwalzer“ (apple waltz), bottle-fermented sparkling wines produced from fallen fruit, as well as the dry, straightforward reinette and gold reinette wines produced by Peter Merkel, owner of the Dornröschen wine bar. Restaurateur Armin Treusch, who presents a wide range of his own as well as a few „outside“ apple wines at his Pomothek, provided four varietal wines from his own production for tasting in Gijon, these were filled in clear Bordeaux bottles. These all had a dry, tart finish, but differed in terms of volume, body and length, right up to the Rheinischen Bohnapfel 2004, the variety always picked last.

In the Swabian region, four friends and colleagues have banded together, they have their production organoleptically checked externally by Dr. Günter Röhrig at the research institute in Weinsberg. They had sent all their products to Asturia. Most of their products are varietal apple or pear wines. Bollers varietal apple wine made from Börtlinger Weinapfel apples showed clear fruit and stimulating acidity. Karl-Heinz Auers Oberösterreischische Weinbirne (Upper Austrian wine pear) impressed with its intense fruit and good length. Jürgen Kaiser blends some Boskoop apples with his pears, as shown in his Gelbmöstler (yellow must), this gives the wine good intensity, more acidity and body. The best among equals is Jörg Geiger from Schlat, who created tremendous excitement with his Champagne baking pear, bottle-fermented, we particularly liked the Extra Brut version, which has prominent fruit and outstanding persistence.

The best range across the board among German apple wine producers was presented by the mercurial Andreas Schneider, who produces perlé and sparkling wines at his fruit farm on the Steinberg mountain in Frankfurt from table fruit varieties planted by his parents 40 years ago. Absolutely delicious is his light and elegant pineapple reinette with pineapple and elderberry flavours, or the fruity and spicy gold parmaine with a prominent note of cinnamon. He uses the fruit of 23 old wild trees on loess to create a well-structured, tart rarity, which is Germany’s contribution to the topic of terroir.

Jörg Geigeralso presented his Champagne baking pear

The fair in Gijon was a festival of discoveries, with the entire spectrum of quality-orientated apple wine producers being represented, from the almost industrial large companies right down to the artisanal producers, from traditional to innovative, from the conservative to the refined. It was a revelation for a wine lover, as it demonstrated that complex, interesting wines can also be made from apples and pears, and that these can be very well matched with many different dishes, while they often have a significantly lower alcohol content than do their cousins made from grapes.

To finish off with a tip: The Fiesta de la Sidra Natural takes place in Gijon from 24th to 26th August. If an original, happy and rather liquid festival appeals to you, make sure to be there.

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