Siider Boskoop (2018)

Based at the southern end of the Jura mountain chain, brothers Cyrill and Ivan were left their grandfather's orchard in 2013. Cyril is a winemaker and Ivan an arborist, and from the outset they knew they wanted to make ciders from totally untreated fruit and bottle it with zero additives. Their area has a long tradition of growing and making cider but that had almost disappeared over the previous two or three generations leaving a wealth of old apple trees with ancient cider varieties essentially abandoned. Today the brothers work with around 30 varieties of apple and pear. The fruit comes from their own orchard, a couple of organic orchards owned by friends and several wild and abandoned trees in the area. All of the trees they work with receive zero treatments of any kind... not even organic preparations.

This sparkling cider undergoes two fermentations. Boskoop is a variety originally from the Netherlands and has been grown in Switzerland for around 150 years. This is certainly the most acidic variety Ivan and Cyrill work with. This is a little reserved upon opening but within minutes unfurls like a peacock's tail. The tannins here are present but very fine and the style of fruit is nervous and tense and exceptionally digestible.

Region: Zeihen, Aargau, CH

750ml / ABV: 6.8%