Troddenvale “Oakley Farm: Virginia Hewe’s Crab”

FROM DISCO LIQUIDS:

THE CIDER: Virginia Hewe’s has had our attention from day one. When it came time to plant an orchard at Oakley in 2019, we elected to put over 300 trees of Hewe’s in the ground, the most of any one varietal. Small quantities of VHC led the blend in our first farm cider in 2021, giving us great hope for a single varietal bottling in the future. Now having the opportunity to showcase this incredible Virginia cider apple all to its own has been a revelation. Although VHC grows well in all parts of the state, we firmly believe it shines best at elevation and grown on limestone. In the glass it immediately dazzles with engaging acid and firm tannins. Zesty orange marmalade is hard to miss. But beyond all of this what jumps at us the most is its rocky minerality in both the nose and pallet. This bottling of VHC is far more serious than that of our Petite, a grown-up, sophisticated mountain gentlemen. Charming, thought provoking, and down right quaffable.

THE PRODUCER: In their own words: “Troddenvale roughly translates to the ‘valley road’ and is inspired by a lengthy history of visitors traveling to the cradle of Virginia’s Warm Springs Valley. Translated through our cider, we strive to preserve this valley’s treasured history, its spring water, forgotten orchards, and furthermore, we seek an opportunity for new stories to be told - of the land, the soil, and the people. We are focused on revitalizing fruit growing for cider production in our mountain region of Virginia. We believe that dedicating our efforts to where fruit is grown and how will lead us to achieve the greatest potential in our cider.”

In their efforts to support the broader region, they glean a lot of fruit from old abandoned orchards and seedlings on the perimeters of properties. However, they also consistently buy fruit from growers in the area, working with them to improve their agricultural practices even if the farmers are resistant to organic/regenerative agriculture. Will and Cornelia planted a home vineyard (pictured above) to many varieties and are farming it according to regenerative principles. They have also started a food share (basically a farmer’s market) that’s transforming the region’s agriculture; their chicken farming neighbors now sell the majority of their chickens to customers in Western VA.