What a scare! Life without much of a sense of smell really felt different for me. I didn’t like that difference either. Thankfully, it’s back. I couldn’t be happier about it. We have guests and holidays arriving imminently. It’s just so much more fun to enjoy the scents of every meal and every moment. On this last evening before the happy chaos begins, I took a moment for a quiet asian meal with my tall companion and a cider that I suspected will be delicious. I chose Wilson Orchard and Farm’s - Late Harvest.
This is the first time any Iowa cider has made it onto the blog, and I’m so excited to taste another place. When investigating Wilson’s Orchard and Farm, I noticed the strong emphasis not only on local produce but on communicating the larger environmental and economic reasoning behind their investment in the local. The site made succinct points about their goals. I’ll quote one section because I liked it so much.
Giving Back
The strength of our food supply chain relies on farmers providing reasonable access to locally-grown food and beverages to the entire community. Each season we partner with various local food pantries and community programs that support our neighborhoods and make our products easily available to as many as possible.
Here’s a link to Wilson’s Orchard’s page about the cidery’s beverages: https://www.wilsonsorchard.com/wilsons-beverages
Here is the full description of this seasonal release.
Late Harvest
Spontaneously Fermented hard cider rested on oak
With a chill in the air, even sometimes snow on the branches, late harvest is a time for our orchard staff to exhale and start to unwind. Only a few more varieties to pick - one of which is our favorite apple, Gold Rush. The perfect time to slow down and celebrate a season of hard work, a fruitful harvest, and of course plan the coming winter’s Wassail.
Tasting notes: Light, fruity with hints of plum, melon, and subtle toffee.
Sugar at harvest: 14.6 degrees brix
Residual Sugar: 0 degrees brix
Appearance: shining trumpet brass, brilliant, fine bubbles
The color is just so strikingly shiny. I’m reminded of my years playing in band and seeing all of the brass instruments with their shining gold hue. I see just a few little bubbles in the glass.
Aromas: white wine, lemon, minerals, tropical fruit, dust, and cedar
The Late Harvest smells immediately like a white wine in a wonderfully appealing way. I also get notes of lemon, dust, minerals, cedar wood and tropical fruit. Somewhere in the mix, you can find a deep note of dark ripeness.
Sweetness/dryness: Dry
This is a perfectly dry cider, and I wouldn’t want it to be any other way.
Flavors and drinking experience: petillant, barrel character, candied orange peel, butterscotch, paper tannins
What I notice first about the late harvest is its petillance. The bubbles are present but not intense. The cider uses its barrel aging beautifully. I’d say that barrel character creates the headline for the cider’s flavors: candied orange peel, butterscotch, dried pineapple, and ripe apple. The cider brings high acid and slight papery tannins as well. I appreciate its full body with some zesty tartness.
The overall impression I gather is that the cider is robust and vigorous but not too boozy. There’s just a hint of warmth on the finish. It manages to simultaneously be stony and yet pervasively apple-y. The cider’s spontaneous fermentation is a tertiary quality that doesn’t overshadow the apples or the time on oak. Instead the fermentation feels clean and straightforward. This is a lovely cider that I’m so glad to enjoy peacefully with all of my senses returned.
