Cidrerie du Vulcain Poiré Cider 2020

Location: Switzerland

Winemaker: Jacques Perritaz

Fruit: 8 old varieties of pears including Gelbmostler, lemon pear

Soil: Molasse (moraine gravel/brown clay) over schist

Winemaking: Fermented spontaneously using low-intervention in stainless steel. Unfined but filtered. 

From the Producer: The favorite insect of Cidrerie du Vulcain, the ‘Vulcain’, or ‘red admiral butterfly’ is represented on the label (artwork by Gisèle Rime). She is a faithful friend during autumn pickings, tending to the fruit burst on the ground. Her population grows this time of the year, helped by other migrating butterfly from northern Europe.

Cidrerie du Vulcain processes fruit from the local Friborg orchard, namely apples, pears and quinces of old varieties grown on high stems and untreated. The Friborg terroir with its cool climate and the diversity of its soils allows an expression of very beautiful nuances in the aromas, this all the more on the old high-stem trees.

The fruits are purchased directly from the producers and sometimes I also take care of the harvest. This approach contributes to enhancing the value of old high-stem orchards currently abandoned for low yields. This allows the preservation of a diverse and rich traditional landscape, essential to biodiversity. The approach was also supported by the FSP (Swiss Landscape Fund).

I make sparkling cider partially fermented using the "guillage" technique of Clairette de Die or corked cider from Normandy and Brittany. The ciders are available in different cuvées from one year to the next, depending on the varieties available. These ciders are always "pure juice", fermented on their wild yeasts and coarsely filtered.