The Cide Project

We all have are side projects. The half restored V8 in the garage, building the back deck or maybe it’s that blog about Aussie ciders you, I mean I, write once a week. We all have big dreams for our side projects but a rare and honourable thing when that side project becomes a reality. That’s what happened when a group of wine industry mates raided their parent’s farm for some apples. The Cide Project Cider was born.

Like so many Aussie cider makers the story begins in the UK. Jamie and Sal, who both work for bigger wine companies, were living in London where they fell for real cider. When they arrived back in Australian the market was dominated by those brands of cider.

In 2014 they decided to have a crack at making their own cider.  Jamie’s Dad has an orchard with a list of different apples as long as a giraffe’s scarf. And here they are: Cox’s Orange Pippin, Lord Lambourne, Michelin, Fameuse, Gala, Bramley Seedling, Belle de Boskoop, Cleopatra, Pine Golden Pippin, Calville Blanc de Hiver, London Pippin, Dunn’s Seedling, Red Apple, Golden Noble, Golden Delicious, Improved Foxwhelp, Yarlington Mill, King of the Pippins, Grimes Golden, Cornish Aromatic, Mutsu, Staymen Winesap, Sundowner, Sturmer Pippin. The orchard is about half way between Melbourne and Adelaide along the coast, in the little town of Kalangadoo. The town has a long history of growing apples dating all the way back to 1910.

The Cide Project is one of those handmade ciders. Apples are collected by hand, carted back in a bucket to a homemade scatter (a machine half way between a blender and a wood chipper for breaking up apples). They are pressed in old fashion grape press. And just for the fun of it, all the bottles are hand labelled.

The Nose

Lemon fresh with a couple of summer fruits like pineapple. There isn’t anything funky or yeast. The whole show is just very fresh and uplifting.

The Taste

Smooth texture packed full of tiny bubbles. The bitter sharp and sweet apples and well-balanced now they have been completely dried out. The freshness carries through to the taste it’s like a hit of lemon sorbet maybe even the pineapple icy poles. I’m giving the impression that this is a sweet cider. It’s not sweet at all. The Cide Project is dry as that veggie garden side project of yours, seriously mate, go water it.

I wouldn’t bother trying to match it with food, it sits pretty well on its own. Cool and refreshing The Cide Project is a pretty refreshing little ditty but at 9.2% it isn’t here to squash spiders.

Final Thoughts on the Cide Project

Despite the wide range of apples used the flavours aren’t as deep as I would expect from a cider using this many apple varieties. That fact is more than made up for by the fresh summer vibes. The thing I like about the Cide Project is they are embracing the seasonality and the recipe will change depending on what crops well that season.

Full credit to The Cide Project for getting a side project up off the ground and into the public. I hope the 2018 vintage will be named The Day Job.

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