Raven Ridge Fuji

Brewed by Raven Ridge Cidery
Style: Cider
Kelowna, Canada

750 ml bottle dated 2002 courtesy Capflu. Still, pale golden amber colour. Sweet and tart apple, light sherry, brown sugar oak, and faint alcohol aroma. Fruity, vanilla, and dry alcohol flavour, with a quite woody and oaky character and a long acidic finish. Medium bodied, juicy and firm mouthfeel. Almost comes across as a overoaked and underattenuated chardonnay, despite the fact that I’m not sure this has even seen the inside of a barrel or had wood aging of any kind.

2002 vintage, purchased at Spinnaker’s Spirit Merchants
Light golden colour. Nearly still. Fresh apple aroma is slightly skinny & earthy, but very juicy. The palate is alcoholic, woody dryness first and foremost. Really clean - there isn’t an ounce of nuance to this. The finish carries such a dry, woody alcoholic accent that it’s almost more vinous than cidery. These eating apples may make for great ice cider but for still cider they just don’t render the complexity I need. Thus, good but not great.

(750ml green bottle) 2002 vintage. Purchased at Spinnaker’s Spirit Merchants for $13.75. Still cider. Pours a clear, fully-filtered golden body. Nose of sweet apples and a dry white wine. Flavour is incredibly tart and dry. Quick grape and calcium finish. Remarkably interchangeable with a white wine, actually more like a wine than cider.