Patois Parallel Voicing Apple Grape Co-Ferment 750ml

Rockingham County, Amherst County | Co-Fermented Pét-Nat, 750 mL | 82 Cases Produced |  8.51% ABV

Fruit:

• 54% Vidal Blanc grapes from Bluestone Vineyard in Rockingham County. 1100’ elevation, silt loam of weathered limestone, sandstone, and shale with chert fragments.

• 46% Crab and Heirloom Apples (Zabergau Reinette, Wickson, Gold Rush, Limbertwig, Northern Spy, Somerset Redstreak, Seedlings) from Morris Orchard in Amherst County. 950’ elevation, clays of granitic schist.

Season:

• 2020 was a difficult spring, with multiple killing frosts after bud break. Fruit that did survive experienced a shortened ripening window – which, with additional rains around harvest, kept fruit light and lean. Despite picking nearly everything a week or more later than in 2019, this vintage brings freshness and finesse.

Fermentation/Development

• A continuous fermentation carried through the full harvest window as fruit ripened. The Vidal was hand sorted, foot stomped and immediately pressed, settled overnight, and then racked to ferment in a used French oak puncheon, poly tank, and glass demijohns. The apples sweated outside, were crushed and soaked overnight on skins, and then pressed into the same vessels. The multiple components were finally blended to finish fermenting in bottle.

• Aged sur latte 5 months and then riddled and disgorged by hand in small lots beginning in early May 2021. No SO2 additions were made.

Tasting:

• Rosebush, blueberry, melon, rock dust

All fruit ferments without modification with ambient yeasts. The ciders are unfined and unfiltered, with SO2 added only when necessary. Any carbonation is a byproduct of captured fermentation.