We start with apples sourced entirely from historic Hudson Valley orchards and our own reinvigorated family orchard in Esopus, NY. After having sweat the apples for a spell, we press on our handmade rack-and-cloth press. Initial fermentation takes place in glass and stainless steel, and then rests through the winter in our steel clad cider house – the metal house!

We blend in the spring, and start a new tirage using champagne yeast, nutrients and sugar to restart the fermentation process. We bottle immediately and then lay the bottles horizontally for a minimum of six months, allowing the second fermentation to proceed slowly, and imparting an optimal effervescence to each one. After riddling the lees into the neck of the bottle, the precipitate is disgorged and the bottle is topped off with a cider dosage. We then cap, clean and label bottles.

Sure, one can make cider in about four days. But good things take time. From the sustainably grown apples we pick, to the way in which we ferment, to the time we allow it to bottle condition, we work for it … and wait for it. Toil, love and time.

Upon moving to Esopus, we found a corrugated shell of an apple barn for the surrounding orchard, predating the house on the property by decades.

We insulated the barn with sustainable cellulose allowing heat to be provided by passive solar heat gain from the large south facing windows of the bottling room. Built on a slab of bedrock, the uninsulated concrete floor allows an ideal ground temperature to maintain heat in the winter and cool in the summer.

We still love its modest aspect, while knowing weʼve transformed the structure into a modern, sustainable workplace. A lot of magic happens inside, inspiring the label as well.

We are a builder and a painter who moved to Esopus from the city in 2009, eight months pregnant and ready for something closer to the land.

The orchard is a homecoming of sorts for both us – (Matt grew up in the Finger Lakes region of New York, where his dad is a winemaker, and so he spent his childhood in the vineyards and cellar. Kimberly has always loved the harvest, whether it be olives in Italy or summers working wheat harvest in her native Walla Walla, Wa.) It wasnʼt long before we started to experiment with cidermaking using the curious and flavorful fruit from the neglected apple trees on our property.

We relish the harvest as well as the hard work required to produce a superior cider that is a true reflection of the Hudson Valley and its story.

We heartily enjoy the spoils and hope you will too!