Ciderie Du Vulcain 'Premiers Emois' Semi-Dry Cider 2020

These apples are late-harvest and the sparkling cider is semi dry. It has an intense nose of ripe apple with balancing acidity. It is unfined and lightly filtered.

Store at 57ºF.
Alcohol 7.1% by volume.

Founder and cider maker Jacques Perritaz was once a biologist working for the Swiss government on the preservation of natural habitats. He became interested in wine and did some short internships with several Swiss wineries, until he started finding neglected apple and pear trees that turned out to be ancient cider varieties. Inspired by Normandy’s Eric Bordelet, he started taking some of the ancient Swiss cider apples and producing ciders like no other.

The Vulcain is the favorite butterfly of the Cidrerie du Vulcain. The insect represented on the label opposite (artwork by Gisèle Rime ) is a faithful friend during harvesting in the fall, tending to the fruits bursting on the ground. Its populations are here and at this time of the year increased by migrants from northern Europe

The 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 lack of outlets on the cider and table fruit market. 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).

The company's flagship products are 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.