South Hill
About
Steve Selin, the cidermaker, apple picker, and community orchardist has been bottling his own cider since 2003. He is a musician grounded firmly in traditional American Old-Time music – a genre that has many parallels to cider: In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries both cider and Old-Time music were staples of American culture, only to be sidelined by more mechanized and industrial rivals. Both the music and cider are maturing and being re-incorporated into American culture in a very real and organic manner. Musical references inspire many of the ciders’ names.
Products
Bluegrass Russet Cider
Sustainable. This cider showcases the Golden Russet apple, a native apple to New York, historically prized for it's excellent flavor in cider and on the table. Custom fermentation and bottling using Charmat method. Naturally Sparkling, Off-dry.
Pommeau
South Hill Pommeau is a blend of barrel-aged Apple Spirits (Eau de Vie) with unfermented and unfiltered apple cider. During months of aging, the pommeau naturally clarifies to an amber liquid of exquisite character. Think Port-style cider. RS 10.1% / 19% ABV
Prelude Cider
Organic. 65% Heirloom apples (Newtown Pippin, Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, Baldwin, Macintosh, Golden Russet) and 35% Bittersweet (Harry Masters Jersey, Geneva Tremlett’s, Dabinett, Ellis Bitter). Long maceration, elevage and bottle time make this a razor sharp and bone dry ancestral. Unfined, unfiltered.
Cosmos Transformed
Biodynamic. Traditional method sparkling, fully grown from South Hill’s home orchard, which is planted on shale bedrock with no synthetic inputs used in farming. Biodynamic preparations have been used since the orchard’s planting in 2014. 21% Calville Blanc, 18% Goldrush, 16% Dabinett, 12% Sam Young, 10% Ashmead’s Kernel, 7% Golden Russet, Porter’s Perfection, 7% Michelin. 0g RS, vintage 2021. Unfined, unfiltered, no added SO2.
Sunlight Transformed
Organic with biodynamic preparations. Pet-nat method. Co-ferment of Dabinett apples and Cabernet Sauvignon skins. Spontaneous fermentation for 120 days. Bone dry. Unfined, unfiltered, no SO2 added.
Geneva Jersey
Dry, sparkling, wild-fermented bittersweet apples. Fruit from the Greene Farm orchard in Wolcott, NY. Traditional method, with a long, slow un-inoculated base ferment which took 100 days to complete. No SO2 added. 48% Dabinett, 36% Chisel Jersey, 7% Golden Russet, 6% Geneva Bitter. 0g RS. Citrusy aroma, savory with a lively bubble, notes of clementine, juicy mandarin, candied ginger.
Marechal Foch Pet Nat
Sustainable. 100% Marechal Foch, a cold-resistant teinturier hybrid from Alsace. Cidermaker Steve Selin has long been curious about making wines from grapes, and this "experiment" turned out better than we all could have expected. Based off of this wine, he's planted several acres of the Marechal Foch near his home orchard. WIld fermented in steel and bottled with residual sugar to make an ancestral. Absolutely captivating.
String Theory Cider
Organic. A love letter to bittersweet apples: 53% Chisel Jersey, 47% Dabinett. This cider takes as inspiration Breton and Norman cider traditions: wild fermented, semi-dry and slightly lower alcohol levels. Bottled as an ancestral in late 2024.
