Patois Cider ‘Bricolage’ Cider 2019
Location: United States, Virginia
Cidermaker: Patrick Collins & Danielle LeCompte
Fruit: unsprayed crab, heirloom, and seedling apples
Soil: rocky
Winemaking: A continuous fermentation carried through the full harvest window as fruit ripened: five days of active fermentation on skins before pressing into a used 500 L French oak puncheon and two used 350 L French oak barrels. The cider aged undisturbed on gross lees for 9 months. Intentionally left un-topped, each barrel developed a positive voile that protected the cider from excessive oxidation and contributed mineral complexity. Barrels were blended together and bottled with organic sugar and its own yeast culture on the 2020 summer solstice. Bottles aged sur lattes for 15 months, before being riddled and disgorged by hand. No SO2 additions were made.
From the Producer: ‘Bricolage’ is the central focus of the project. All fruit is foraged from unsprayed crab, heirloom, seedling trees, mostly sourced from rocky soils at higher elevations. A cuvée of chance and discovery. Violets, mountain mint, caramelized plum, river rocks.
From the Importer Selection Massale: Patois Cider is based in Crozet, Virginia in the heart of the historic apple country -- Virginia has a deep history (on a colonial timeline) of apple cultivation, from homesteads to the post-Civil War boom in production and exportation. The project is run by Patrick Collins and his partner Danielle LeCompte, and they completed their first commercial vintage in 2019. They focused on producing ciders that express the wild fruit and terroir of small pockets of Virginia. Everything is hand harvest, no spray practices in an old-growth orchard, and fermenting with little/no SO2.
Originally from Washington, DC, Patrick returned home to pursue cidermaking after his love of beverage was formed by time working in restaurants. After working three years for more commercial cideries in Virginia (where he met Danielle) they began exploring native fermentations, sourcing heirloom fruit, and caring for previously abandoned orchards with more sustainable growing practices on their own.
Danielle and Patrick both have a strong faith in the Virginia climate as a place that is ideal for producing ethereal and expressive ciders that are very disguisable from other cooler climate ciders. Patrick describes Virginia as producing more ample fruit and he says, "unlike most cidermakers who inhibit malolactic and ferment in reductive environments they want to embrace the "chin-dripping lushness of Virginia instead of fighting against it."
The guiding focus of Patois Cider is balance, and this is seen in the treatment of in the orchard, but also the approach in the cellar -- embracing coferments, hybrids, and flexibility to allow each cuvee to change vintage to vintage.