For our second domestic cider offer, we’re diving deeper into the rabbit hole of American libations. We’re now trekking across the country into New York State to unearth possibly the craziest thing we’ve ever featured on SommSelect. Aaron Burr’s “Appinette” is a blend of Traminette grapes from the Finger Lakes and cider apples foraged from the wild foothills of the Catskill Mountains. Truthfully, we’re not even sure if this qualifies as cider or wine, but we’re positive about one thing: It is absolutely delicious.

Andy Brennan, the cider maker and forager at Aaron Burr, is a cult figure in the cider world. Securing enough to offer is as difficult as locking down a tranche of Cotat Sancerre or Bénetière Côte-Rôtie. But it’s worth the hard work: this is the sort of genre-bending bottle only possible in America, unbound as it is by Old World rules and regulations. A heady commingling of high-toned floral aromatics and cutting saline briskness, it’s insanely playful and refreshing. Cider might often get associated with a more autumnal range of flavors, but we’ll be popping this every chance we get in the summer months. I can only suggest you stock up on this because it won’t come around again soon. I promise, after one sip you’ll become an Aaron Burr acolyte! 

There’s simply no one in the world of cider, or wine, like Andy Brennan. He is outspoken and unabashed about his goal of reclaiming American history through cider. Before the mid-20th century, America was home to thousands and thousands of different apple varieties, most of them not categorized or named. Most families, particularly on the East Coast, had at least a few apple trees that would provide them with cellar-safe food or alcohol for the winter months. But modern agriculture and market demands shrunk this cornucopia down to just a small handful of varieties, most of them far too simple for producing good cider. Andy fights to set this right as much as he can. He and his wife, Polly, only work with foraged apples found in the wild. Most are Pippins (if you’re not sure what a Pippin is, you’ll need to read today’s earlier offer!) while a select few were cultivated on what were once family homesteads. In the wine world, we like to talk a lot about organics or biodynamics, but Andy is frankly putting us all to shame—the apples he works with are totally unsprayed, fertilized only by naturally occurring humus and compost, as pure and untouched as anything on planet Earth.

And, of course, there’s the insane production size: Andy and Polly produce 30 barrels of cider. That’s it. They’ll never produce more because they insist on doing every drop of work themselves. It’s not hard to see why Andy and Polly produce some of the most coveted cider in the world. Their “Appinette” bottling is a hi-def zoom-in on upstate New York, a blend of three varieties that all call the state home: Northern Spy, Golden Russett, and Traminette. Keen eyes know that the last one happens to be a grape—an offspring of Gewürztraminer first propagated in the Finger Lakes—but Andy doesn’t let such fussy distinctions keep him from bottling up pure New York soul. Is it a cider? Is it wine? Both? We don’t know, and Andy doesn’t, either. But we do know it’s one of the most exciting bottles we’ve cracked in a long time!

Andy and Polly are hands-off in the cidery: spontaneous yeasts, no fining or filtering, and fermentations finished in the bottle. This is a “pet-nat,” essentially. Because it hasn’t been disgorged (it is still resting on lees), be sure to stand your bottle upright for a couple of days before consumption and pour slowly after opening. We promise you’ll be rewarded for your patience. Huge grapefruit, rose petal, and white peach notes from the Traminette lead the nose before the apples take over with their mixture of mint, melon rind, and lemon zest. The palate is bone dry, with a creamy texture and mouth-coating carbonation, wicked away in a flash by a lick of zinging acidity and sea salt minerality. This just begs to be drunk with abandon, and its 8.3% alcohol makes it easy to keep cracking into new bottles. So be sure you have a few on hand!