No fining/filtration 
No pasteurization
No chaptalization
No acidification
No added sulfites

Fruit 
An assortment of mature, forgotten, and seedling apple trees picked over the course of several months. All gleaned fruit was a mixture of windfalls and that of manual shaking, collected together with friends and family. 

Orchard Sites
A variety of frost protected pockets on varying farms through the Warm Springs Valley and Jackson River Valley of Bath County. Two primary sites contributed the majority of the fruit used in this barrel: Chimney Run Farm at 2600-2800’ elevation and Virginia Hill at 2200’ elevation. 

Vinification
All components were pressed at varying points during harvest creating a continuous, native fermentation that stretched into December. A portion of late season apples saw several days of cold maceration prior to pressing. Once primary fermentation concluded, the cider sat undisturbed for nine months until it was racked off its gross and fine lees in late August of 2021. Bottled lightly sparkling via traditional method without disgorgement. No additions of SO2 were made at any stage of the cider.

Notes
Between 2019 and 2020,  their locally foraged fruit production dropped from upwards of eight barrels to one. They resisted the urge to hunt for fruit at lower elevations and opted to focus their efforts on the limited fruit hidden here in Bath County. Outside of a handful of lightly baring single trees, two unlikely locations ended up providing almost all the fruit used for their single barrel of Foraged. Normally the wild seedlings found along edges of Chimney Run Farm’s high sloping meadows are covered in fruit year to year but barely a handful of apples were present. It was the unlikely few seedlings along the shaded and rocky spring run that surprised us with fruit. Somehow this otherwise non-ideal apple tree location provided just enough protection from the spring’s challengingly cold weather. The second location was something all together they had not thought of for their Foraged cider; the Homestead Resort’s original neighborhood of Virginia Hill. Located on the north facing slope of Hot Springs Gap, they stumbled into a micro-climate that seemed completely unfazed by the winter-like spring weather. We found several old trees, including what we identified as Arkansas Black and Winesaps, nestled where the neighborhood’s edge met the woods. All together this cider took its time to show itself, developing slowly and yielding one of the more tannic and layered ciders of the vintage. 

25 cases produced, Alc. 6.9% by Volume, 750ml