House Cider 2022

Site 
44% Nelson County - Silver Creek Orchards & Dickie Brothers Orchards, 27% Carroll County - Foggy Ridge Cider Orchards, 12% Augusta County - Countryside Farm & Nursery , 12% Highland County - Big Valley Orchard, 4% Madison County - Rory Calhoun Orchard

Fruit
20% Harrison, 18% Ashmead’s Kernel, 14% Virginia Hewe’s Crab, 10% Virginia Winesap, 7% Wickson, 5% Roxbury Russet, 5% Golden Russet, 21% Fourteen other assorted varieties

Vinification
Most fruit was pressed directly to a combination of 228L and 500L French/American oak and Black Locust barrels between the months of September and November. Some varietals saw brief, overnight maceration before pressing. Upon completing an uninoculated, native primary fermentation, select barrels saw a reinvigoration of their lees by weekly or monthly Bâtonnage. Barrels were left undisturbed during the spring and summer until racked off gross/fine lees and blended in the end of July of 2023. Bottled sparkling via traditional method and rested for an additional nine months undisgorged before its release. No additions of SO2 were made at any stage of this wine.

Notes
This spring release features some of our stalwarts that we have produced since our first commercial vintage back in 2018. And even though so much of our production has been highly focused singular expressions of cider, The House cider might be one of the most important to us. Great cider doesn’t need to be fussy nor esoteric. Great cider in many ways needs to be humble, approachable, and honest. We started Troddenvale knowing that no matter what direction it took, we wanted to be able to offer something versatile, something we could substantially produce at a valued price point, and generate more thought about what it means to be a Virginian cider. This vintage features a very diverse “pomage” of over 20 different varieties with a gang of russets leaving their imprint in the profile of cider. Less citrusy and slightly more tannic than previous years thanks to the contributions from Foggy Ridge. We are excited to see how this vintage evolves in bottle. 

230 cases produced, 8.49% Alc. by Volume, 750ml