Cider Spotlight!

Daring Ancestral Sparkling Cider

$31.99 for the 750ml bottle
Hard Apple Cider

Megan Hereford and Jocelyn Kuzelka are two long-time friends who got bitten by both the wine and cider bugs. By the 2010s, Hereford was selling “all the things that wine- and cidermakers use to craft fine wine and cider,” while Kuzelka was consulting with winemakers and cidermakers around the country as well as making her own small batches of each. The two finally decided to start their own winery, and in 2021, Daring Wine Company was born in Stuart, VA (some 40+ miles to the west of Danville). Staying true to their multiple interests, they not only make wine but also cider, like this one …

Their Ancestral Sparkling Cider is a blend of Ashmead’s Kernel, Harrison, and VA crabapples. Here is what they have to say about it …

“We allow this sparkling cider to complete fermentation in bottle creating a naturally effervescent product that captures the soul of the Virginia apple.

“Each bottle is alive, unique and infused with the taste of place we strive to create in all our products.”

“Alive” is right. They recommend chilling bottles upright for 24 hours before opening them to calm the in-bottle fermentation forces (though we stuck ours in our super-fast, super-cold chiller for a half an hour, and it opened just fine). It’s very dry with a lingering yeastiness and has a depth of apple presence that you usually only find in sweeter ciders.