You know the feeling: you open a libation from a region you thought you knew, and it’s so good it doesn’t just confirm your affection, it completely shifts your perspective of what that place, or style, can do. Such a moment happened at our office recently, and the country in question was, of all places, the good ol’ US of A. The twist? It was a half-bottle of Newtown Pippin cider that had us all buzzing—Scar of the Sea’s 2018 “Bear Valley Ranch,” to be exact!

If you want to recalibrate your understanding of American terroir, look through the lens of an old, organically farmed apple orchard high up in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains. The simple truth is we couldn’t ask for a more delicious, dry, and savory entry into this fascinating world than Mikey Giugni’s Newtown Pippin! NOTE: Since today marks a milestone—our very first domestic cider offering—we’re feeling ambitious and following up Scar of the Sea’s revelatory bottling with something that’ll make you question what cider even is. Stay tuned this afternoon!

It’s best to address this upfront: Great cider like Scar of the Sea’s is light years away from the sweet, simple six packs you find on grocery store shelves. Real cider basically resembles wine in its balance of acid, tannin, and (occasional) sugar. While the array of flavors is different, the best ciders go toe-to-toe with wine in the complexity department. That’s largely because we’re talking about an entirely different class of apples; supermarket cider is made from the same Macintoshes and Gala apples you find in the produce section. But today we’re talking about Newtown Pippin, a cultivar prized for its structural elements and aromatic compounds. While it can be eaten off the tree, that’s rare for cider apples—most are inedibly tannic or acidic. Think of the difference between Concord grapes and Cabernet Sauvignon and you’re on the right path. 

And what an apple Newtown Pippin is! It wasn’t bred in a nursery, but cultivated from cuttings off wild trees in the village of Newtown, NY. If you’ve never heard of Newtown, maybe that’s because today it’s known as Queens. Such is the case with many of the best cider apples, their lineage a direct link to an American past we don’t often hear about. Apple trees grew wild in hedgerows all over the country, providing sustenance and alcohol for the pilgrims and pioneers. As much as we love Willamette Pinot or Sonoma Chardonnay, they can’t hold a candle to that kind of history!

We couldn’t ask for a better guide into the world of cider than Mikey Giugni. His Scar of the Sea label is one of the hottest in California right now, thanks largely to his knack for securing fruit from incredible but often unheralded sites. It's the place that drives Mikey; he feels too much emphasis these days is put on how a wine is made and not where it comes from. Hence, he doesn’t limit himself to single regions or certain varieties. If a vineyard or orchard site has that perfect combo of soil, aspect, and climate, he works with it. It’s no wonder he was drawn to Bear Valley Ranch. Just a few miles off the coast, it’s high in the mountains of Santa Cruz, where the 80-year-old trees are farmed organically with zero chemical inputs. Thanks to the damp conditions, Santa Cruz is considered one of the more difficult places to farm grapes organically in California, but apples are more comfortable in these high elevations and foggy mornings. That’s the promise of cider: Whole new corners of American terroir to discover.

Served at a cool 50 degrees, Scar of the Sea’s Newtown Pippin pours a golden-hued amber into white wine glasses. Anyone who thinks cider isn’t a beverage for contemplation will second guess themselves upon smelling this. It offers a gentle and complex commingling of apple flesh, almond skin, burnished orange peel, sea spray, and a faint undertone of earthy funk. The palate is supple and savory with a soft, persistent bead of carbonation that rumbles forth with more undergrowth before moving into dried red apple and hazelnut tones. There’s incredibly nuanced acidity here, helping to blur the line between ponderable and poundable. It is, in short, a ridiculously delicious beverage that will get any wine lover very excited to begin their journey into the world of cider. Cheers!