CIDER TERRA
Cider Terra is an annual event that brings together cideries and wineries from all over the state at a different location each year , highlighting the joy and great taste of craft cider and apple wines here in Vermont .
On a gorgeous , sun-dappled day in August , I attended my first Cider Terra event at the Lincoln Peak Vineyard in New Haven , VT . It was a lovely , intimate experience that afforded me the chance to not only sample unique ciders and apple wines from all over Vermont , but also learn about the cider-making process from start to finish and hear about the challenges faced within the industry . The event was capped off by a live music concert , which put an exclamation point on the apple celebration .
Before I made my way to each of the 8 tasting stations , I headed to the adjacent barn to attend cider talks and feed my natural curiosity about using apples to make delightful spirits . The wealth of information I gathered was astonishing , not only because there was so much to learn , but also because some of what I learned shocked me .
I was born in upstate New York , and I have lived in both Massachusetts and Vermont — all states that take the cultivation of apples very seriously . My family always made time to visit our nearby apple orchards , and I viewed them as a source of local pride , which they still are . I had always assumed apples were authentically American : “ As American as apple pie ,” as the saying goes . In a fascinating turn , I learned that apples originate from Kazakhstan and reached other parts of the world by traveling much the way our ancestors did … by boat !
Other twists and turns in the apple story also caught me by surprise , including the genetic diversity of apples , which is quite remarkable . For example , if you take a seed from your favorite apple ( mine has always been MacIntosh ) and plant it in the ground , it will not be the same varietal when it is full-grown and bearing fruit . The fruit will inherit characteristics from the parent tree , while the seeds within will embody a fusion of the two varieties . This blending of genetic material in the seeds means the grower won ’ t know what traits a tree grown from these seeds will have and what the resulting fruit will taste like . The only way to grow the exact type of apple you want is by grafting the desired tree . Grafting describes any of several techniques in which a section of a stem with leaf buds is inserted into the stock of a tree . So , if you want to grow more of that delicious MacIntosh you just bit into , you ’ re going to have to go directly to the source and graft your own tree — or just let the farmers take care of that for you !
I also had an opportunity to hear about the challenges faced by so many of the orchards after the May frost that devastated apple harvests in 2023 . Apple growers who were affected turned to their agricultural counterparts for advice or simply an empathetic ear , and it was clear that competition was not going to get in the way of offering support to a struggling neighbor . Despite the resilience and efforts of farmers to mitigate the damage , the impact of the frost on Vermont ’ s apple industry reverberated throughout the state . While Cider Terra allows consumers to enjoy different handcrafted apple spirits , it also brings orchards and vineyards together to brainstorm solutions and help each other prepare for whatever the future might bring . It was heartening to learn that a portion of the proceeds from the ticket sales for Cider Terra 2023 went toward the
62 VERMONT MAGAZINE