The Story My wife’s family on her mother’s side comes from Normandie, and they have a home in a small village that we have visited for years. Cidre plays an important role in our Normandie lives and is always served to begin lunch and dinner. Normandie is the home of apple farming, cidre (they do not have the term “hard cider”) and one of my favorite brandies, Calvados. For decades, my wife’s family had an agreement with a farmer who took our yearly allotment of recycled bottles and refilled them every harvest with the typical cidre of the region- lower alcohol (around 4%), and with the carbonation level of sparkling wine, so it had a champagne cork. This cidre was brut, higher acid, tannic, unfiltered, refreshing, earnest, and pleasant, with a from-the-farm taste. I wanted to make a cider that was in the spirit of Normandie, but also true to Civic-style- using the same approach as in my natural winemaking. I used apples grown at practicing organic or similar farms, fermented spontaneously with native yeast in amphora, without fining or filtering, and with minimal intervention. Civic Cidre is not artificially sparkling or heavily carbonated, but a Pétillant-naturel. I hope you enjoy this homage to Normandie cidre with a Civic twist! Production All apples were hand harvested from the Willamette Valley, including apples from my own backyard. Crushing, pressing and cidermaking all took place at Civic Winery. This cider is a blend from two separate presses with different apple varietals and styles. The first pressing was September 27, and included apples from trees near Eugene including Red Mutsu and Gala, picked by myself and others. The second pressing was October 28, and consisted of Porters Perfection from Idyll Acres and Pippen and Northern Spy from Mary’s Green Gate Farm. After settling, the juice was racked off the gross lees into NOVUM amphorae where fermentation began spontaneously with native yeast. Before completing fermentation, the two juices were blended, racked off of the fine lees, then chilled to halt fermentation. Bottling was mid-November. — Civic Winery