Brewing up interest in hard cider

By Brian McNeill

Published: June 24, 2008

In early America, the undisputed beverage of choice was hard apple cider — even more so than water.

Thomas Jefferson brewed champagne-like cider out of Virginia Hewe’s Crab apples at Monticello.

John Adams guzzled a pitcher each morning with his breakfast, citing its positive health benefits.

Yet, these days, hard apple cider has largely fallen out of favor in the United States. Only a few brands, mostly imported from England, remain widely available.

Now, however, an Albemarle County apple orchard is aiming to spark a cider comeback.

“Cider was the libation of choice in Colonial America,” said Chuck Shelton of Vintage Virginia Apples on U.S. 29 south of Charlottes-ville. “We’re going to bring cider back.”

Vintage Virginia is a family-run orchard that features more than 200 varieties of heirloom and rare apple varieties, as well as unusual peaches, plums, pears and more.

Tonight, the company will seek site plan approval from the Albemarle County Planning Commission to build a 3,000-square-foot cidery and an 1,100-square-foot tasting room.

If approved, Vintage Virginia hopes to finish construction of its expansion in the fall, with production kicking off in October or November. The tasting room is expected to open to visitors next spring.

Only one other orchard in Virginia is dedicated to making traditional hard apple cider. Foggy Ridge Cider in Dugspur, a tiny hamlet in Southwest Virginia, has been producing three types of hard cider for the past couple of years.

“I haven’t heard of anyone else doing this,” said Dave Robishaw, a Charlottesville-based apple specialist with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. “I’m really excited for [them]. I think it’s going to be great.”

Virginia’s $235 million apple industry has more than 100 commercial orchards on upwards of 16,000 acres. Few growers produce hard cider, Robishaw said, because the necessary equipment is expensive.

Within its first year, Vintage Virginia hopes to produce around 800 cases of 25.4-ounce bottles of hard cider. Roughly the size of a wine bottle, each bottle of cider will cost between $15 and $20.

Charlotte Shelton, also an owner of Vintage Virginia Apples, said the company is hoping to tap into Central Virginia’s growing agritourism market. With dozens of wineries in the region, it seems only natural that thirsty tourists and Charlottesville food lovers would want to check out the complex flavors of high-end cider, she said.

“The average wine drinker will find it appealing and interesting,” she said.

The orchard’s emphasis on the history of apples and cider in Virginia may also attract visitors seeking to learn more about Jefferson-era libations, she said.

Included among the apples likely to be incorporated in Vintage Virginia’s cider will be Jefferson’s favorite Hewe’s Crab, as well as Harrison apples, Yates apples, the popular Albemarle Pippin and petite French Lady apples.

“The palate appeal is why we think we’ll succeed,” Charlotte Shelton said.

The Shelton family is investing a substantial amount of money into the expansion project. Chuck Shelton said it will cost “more than a couple six figures.” Yet they believe it will position the orchard to sustain itself through cider sales well into the future.

“We believe that the cider is something that will be a profit center for us,” Charlotte Shelton said.

Eventually the Sheltons hope to distribute their cider to Charlottesville-area grocery stores, wine shops and restaurants.

Albemarle Planning Commissioner Eric Strucko said he does not foresee any major reasons why the orchard’s proposed cidery and tasting room would not be approved. The county staff, he said, has recommended that Vintage Virginia’s proposal be accepted without conditions.

“This one was pretty non-controversial,” Strucko said. “It seems pretty straightforward.”