Patois "Quaker Run" Cider, Madison County, Virginia 2021

FROM PATOIS:

THE CIDER: 25% Gold Rush, 25% Black Twig, 20%Roxbury Russet, 20% Ashmead’s Kernel, 10% Grimes Golden from Quaker Run Orchard in Madison, VA. Clay loam with quartz and greenstone gravel, 950’ elevation. Quaker Run is a former commercial orchard dating back to the 19th century. Current owners Tom and Debbie Flynn still maintain a few rows of apple trees. Clear, warm temperatures defined the growing season, with enough rain to maintain tree metabolism. A good year for ripe Virginia fruit. The ratios of the blend change year to year based on what the trees deliver. 2021 features more acid components than previous harvests. After Tom and Patrick harvested the apples, we left them in small bins in the shade to further concentrate for two to four weeks before pressing. A continuous fermentation carried through the full harvest window from September to December: we crushed the apples to soak overnight on skins, and then pressed them into a mix of 350 L and 228 L neutral French oak and glass demijohns. The multiple components were then blended to finish fermenting in the bottle. Bottles aged sur lattes for 15 months before being riddled and disgorged by hand. Candied lime, satsuma, linden tea.

THE PRODUCER: Patois is Patrick Collins and Danielle LeCompte. Our focus is balance: How do untended apple trees maintain their ecological equilibrium, and how can an orchard mirror this dynamic? How will several successions of microorganisms collectively transform the fruit? How do we align ourselves and our work with the interconnecting cycles of nature? Can two people do this?

We don’t own land because our scale cannot support those costs. Foraging allows us to utilize existing (if scattered) noncommercial fruit of supreme quality. These trees hold both the historical lessons of past plantings - sites proven by survival - and the genetic renewal through seedlings for future resilience. We observe these trees and attempt to restore them where we have regular access. We may also seek to propagate them through both grafting and sprouting seeds should landowners allow. Sometimes we imagine our own orchard of our favorite found varieties interspersed with vines; sometimes we think no single Shangri-La will ever approach the complexity of so many unique inputs assembled by a century of chance.

We work fairly oxidatively in the cellar, due partly to aesthetic aims and partly to our minimal infrastructure. Everything is done by hand on a one or two person scale. Sparkling wine can be constrained by technique and fixed parameters, but we try to think creatively to achieve our goals with only fruit and time. While the ciders and wines will continue to evolve in the bottle upon release, they are not precious and are meant to be enjoyed. We hope to demonstrate that conventionally undervalued fruit is capable of producing delicious and complex wines when treated with intention and care.