Seattle Cider – Washington Heirloom & Gravenstein Rosé – A First Sampling

I’ve been lucky enough to get the opportunity to sample some amazing ciders, and in the process I’ve learned quite a bit about hard cider.  Whether sweet or slightly dry, the flavors are unique and the combinations can be endless.  With that in mind, I’m excited to say that the two ciders I sampled this evening are among my absolute favorites.

Seattle Cider Co was kind enough to send me an early sample of two of their 2014 Harvest Series ciders, and I couldn’t resist sampling them both.

First let me say that my photo does little to show how truly gorgeous these ciders are.   The packaging and wax dipped caps are impressive, but the pure color of the ciders themselves will leave you really excited to sample them.

We started with Washington Heirloom and I couldn’t help but pick out the peach and sweet fruit aromas.  The flavors are dry with melon, cherry and even citrus, and the cider finishes with a pleasing dry and almost acidic tartness.  For those keeping the cider stats, this cider uses Washington-grown Newtown Pippin, Gravenstein, and Espopus Spitzenberg apples, in addition to ten varieties of French and English cider apples grown at the WSU Extension Campus.  It comes in at 6.6%-AbV and a dry 1.2 Brix (350 cases bottled).

Up next we couldn’t resist the beautiful color of the Gravenstein Rosé, and when you see this cider in person, you’ll understand where the the name “Rosé” comes in.  This cider gets it’s color from the wine barrel ageing it undergoes in Petit Verdot barrels from Crucible Wines, and yes the flavors get a little wine barrel assistance as well.  The nose is sweet and floral and we found the almost wine-live flavors to be very pleasant and really well balanced with the Gravenstein apples.  We also appreciated the earthy and slightly oaky flavors imparted by the wine barrels.

Gravenstein Rosé comes in at 6.9%-AbV and a dry 1.4 Brix (75 cases bottled), and while it was a close comparison, we really enjoyed the Gravenstein Rosé the most.  It pared nicely with creamy Vermont goat cheese and just about every other cheese we tasted it with.  In the end we ran out of cider before we ran out of cheese pairings that worked well with Gravenstein Rosé.

Be sure to track down these two amazing Harvest Series ciders from Seattle Cider Co, and when you do sample them, be sure to let me know what you think.  Also be on the lookout for the rare Harvest Series Perry from Seattle Cider and let me know what you think.

Thank you to everyone at Seattle Cider for this opportunity to sample some amazing Harvest ciders.