Cider Apples: What Makes an Apple Worth Pressing? | Jan’s Blog
There is a moment every year when we start watching the orchard a little more closely. It’s still summer, but it’s time to start thinking about harvest.
The apples are still on the trees, but a few are beginning to fall. Walk through the Merridale orchard right now and you’ll see the first windfalls beneath the branches, a sure sign that the cider apple harvest is beginning to approach.
We’re a little early this year.
Some of these early windfalls won’t make their way into our cider. They simply haven’t developed the combination of flavour, sugar, acidity and tannin we look for in our cider apples. But they are a beautiful reminder that the orchard is moving into its next season and that, after months of growing, nurturing and waiting, harvest is getting closer.
And this is where the next part of our cider story begins.
It Starts With the Right Cider Apple
Cider apples are different from the apples you might pick up at the grocery store.
At Merridale, we grow traditional European cider apple varieties, including varieties with naturally higher levels of tannins and acidity and relatively lower sugar. Those characteristics aren’t necessarily what you’d look for in an eating apple, but they can give cider complexity, structure and character.
Our connection to these apples goes back to the early days of Merridale. In 1990, we brought rootstock from England, France and Germany to Vancouver Island, where the Cowichan Valley climate proved remarkably well suited to growing traditional cider apples.
That choice still matters today.
A cider is only as interesting as the fruit that goes into it. The variety of apple, the soil, the weather, the timing of harvest and the way the orchard is cared for all influence what eventually ends up in the glass.
So, for us, growing the apples isn’t simply the first step in making cider.
It is part of making the cider.
An Orchard Is an Ecosystem
That is also why the way we farm matters.
At Merridale, we have been moving toward regenerative farming practices for years. We don’t use chemicals, herbicides or pesticides in our orchard. Instead, we work with the natural systems around the trees to create a healthier growing environment.
That means maintaining green spaces around the property, protecting large maples and indigenous plants around the orchard’s perimeter, and creating an environment that supports the pollinators and other beneficial insects that are naturally drawn to the farm.
We’ve also planted thousands of trees on our farm and in other orchards throughout the Cowichan Valley and Okanagan.
These practices are more than boxes to tick on a sustainability list.
An orchard is a living system.
The trees depend on pollination. The soil needs organic matter and biological activity. Different plants provide habitat and help support biodiversity. Natural areas around the orchard give that ecosystem room to function.
When you farm this way year after year, you’re not just thinking about this year’s crop. You’re thinking about the health of the orchard and the land that will produce apples for years to come.
That is an important distinction for us.
Regenerative farming isn’t simply about taking from the land. It is about creating conditions where the soil, trees, plants and surrounding ecosystem can continue to thrive and support the farm into the future.
And ultimately, that comes back to the apples.
Healthy soil supports healthy trees. Healthy trees produce better fruit. And better fruit gives us the raw material we need to make distinctive Vancouver Island cider.
What Makes a Cider Apple Ready for Harvest?
The first windfalls are one of the signs that harvest is approaching. But harvesting cider apples isn’t simply a matter of picking the first fruit that falls.
We’re looking for the right combination of maturity, acidity, tannin, sugar and flavour.
The timing can make a significant difference to the juice that comes out of the press and, ultimately, to the balance of the finished cider.
When the time is right, we’ll begin hand-picking the apples at their peak. Some apples will naturally fall before then. Those early windfalls are part of the orchard’s rhythm, but they won’t all become cider.
The apples we do harvest will be selected because they have reached the stage we’re looking for, not simply because the calendar says it’s time to pick.
That patience is an important part of making cider here in the Cowichan Valley.
We watch.
We taste.
We pay attention to the trees and the fruit.
And then we harvest.
Come See the Orchard
This is a wonderful time of year to visit Merridale
The orchard is beginning to change. You’ll see fruit hanging from the trees, the first apples beneath them and the farm moving toward harvest.
Take a walk through the orchard and you’ll see the place where our cider begins, not just the rows of apple trees, but the soil, plants, wildlife and natural systems that surround them.
It is one thing to enjoy a glass of Merridale cider. It is another to stand in the orchard and see the fruit and landscape behind it.
And right now, you can see the beginning of harvest season unfolding in real time.
Getting Ready for the Press
While the orchard gets ready for harvest, we’re getting ready for the next stage here at Merridale.
Our pressing equipment is being prepared because, once the apples come in, they’ll be washed, ground and pressed into fresh juice.
That is where we’ll pick up the story next month.
We’ll take you inside the pressing process and follow the apples from apple to juice, showing what happens when the fruit we’ve spent the year growing finally meets the press.
For now, though, we’re watching the orchard.
The season is beginning. And soon, these cider apples will be ready for the next step.
