Our fruit comes from two separate orchard locations in the Town of Ovid in the Finger Lakes of upstate New York, between Seneca and Cayuga the two largest lakes in the region. The micro climate at each orchard is perfect for producing a wide variety of cultivars that ripen to their maximum potential. Warm autumn days and cool nights maintain high levels of acidity and tannin, while achieving the right balance of sugars and rich flavors. The evaluation of fruit, that grows well in the Finger Lakes region, has been over two decades in the making at Blackduck Cidery and continues each year. Our team continues to scout for wild seedling trees to graft in our orchards that have the qualities needed for cider and perry and continue to trial “new” cultivars that meet our standards. We follow more than organic orchard practices and strive to produce the highest quality fruit for our cider, perry and vinegar. We hand pick and allow the fruit to sweat for optimum ripeness before pressing and fermenting. Soil, weather, ambient microbes, cultivar selections and the hand of the Blackduck team combine to bring a finished drink that is unique and hopefully tasty. Please visit our farm site at Daring Drake Farm to see some of the varieties we grow.
The cidery is located roughly at the middle point of Cayuga Lake (37.9 miles long), both orchard sites face east with 3 miles and 200 feet elevation separating the ‘Home Farm’ and the ‘Cidery Orchard’. Our oldest plantings of apple, pear, plum, currants, cherries and various other fruiting plants are at the ‘Home Farm’. The ‘Cidery Orchard’ contains newer plantings of all of these plus grafted trees of uniquely useful wild germplasm of apple, pear and rose that we’ve collected over decades. We’ve found some useful varieties and are happy to finally share some of these with the orchard based cider community. Many more lifetimes will be needed to continue the selection and evaluation of these fruits. Pears for your heirs, indeed! Questions concerning fermentation, horticulture and wild germplasm send an email.
