Comments on: How bout them apples? Basa Jaun cider

By: Toni

Toni — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 03:09:45 +0000

This sounds so much better than the bottle we tried tonight. It smelled of paint thinner. Really strange. I wonder if it has gone bad or something. Any idea? Definitely will try again from another store! Thanks.

By: Athena Rork

Athena Rork — Thu, 19 May 2011 20:05:27 +0000

I live in Burlington, Vermont and we actually have a fantastic crepery down the street from our house, The Skinny Pancake. There should definitely be more in America!

By: The other Spain, as brought to us by Andre Tamers [importer] | Dr Vino's wine blog

Wed, 18 May 2011 18:39:05 +0000

[...] already mentioned the fascinating Basa Jaun cider but there is also the Isastegi Basque cider, from the Spanish side of the border. Dry! Yeasty! [...]

By: Randall Grahm

Randall Grahm — Tue, 17 May 2011 21:53:12 +0000

This is precisely the theory I’m working on. Don’t know if apples can ultimately be as articulate about their terroir as grapes might be, but certainly dry-farmed apples, and very likely older trees may well be capable of expressing nuances of difference. My sense is that some transformative process (fermentation) may be needed to help further amplify these differences. The idea of growing grapes from seeds is untested and there are really two reasons why seeds haven’t caught on. With seeds, every plant is a little (or a lot) different from every other one, and therefore all may not be suitable for one’s purposes. For purposes of tree grafting, this doesn’t appear to be a big problem. The second, perhaps larger problem for grape seeds is that plants grown from grape seeds may tend to throw off suckers forever if the primary bud whorl is not properly and completely disbudded. This makes it a major pain in the bud forever. With the right tools ((straight edged-razor) and careful work, this problem should be theoretically avoidable. But since it is a lot of work, virtually everyone has taken the easier route and gone w/ vegetative propagation (cuttings).

By: Dr. Vino

Dr. Vino — Tue, 17 May 2011 20:25:16 +0000

Meant to include this link to the producer in the post but forgot. So here it is: http://www.domainebordatto.com/basa.php

1winedude – history of *commercial* apple cultivation…

Randall – Thanks for stopping by. Interesting about the various propagation methods influencing the taste of the fruit. Do you see similarities with grape vines? Is that one of the theories behind your new vineyard at San Juan Bautista?

By: Randall Grahm

Randall Grahm — Tue, 17 May 2011 15:03:58 +0000

Apples (or pears) may well be capable of expressing terroir. (Or in the case of pears, pearoir – so sorry). Just witness what Eric Bordelet has managed to achieve with his Poire “Granit,” made from 300 year old pear trees (that tower at 100 ft.) “Standard pome trees are grown from seeds, which have a very deep rooting habit – hence more drought tolerant, longer-lived and potentially a lot more expressive of terroir. Dwarf fruit trees, usually grown from rootstock cuttings are more shallow rooted, don’t live so long, are typically drip irrigated and produce a rather lackluster product, lacking in the depth of a dry-farmed product. Vive le terroir des pommes!

By: 1WineDude

1WineDude — Tue, 17 May 2011 14:32:23 +0000

I don’t understand this “history of the apple” of which you speak, Tyler. Surely apples were created in the garden of eden or the talking snake wouldn’t have been able to tempt Eve?

By: Dr. Vino

Dr. Vino — Mon, 16 May 2011 21:31:40 +0000

Thanks, Inigo, for correcting my Basque!

By: Inigo

Inigo — Mon, 16 May 2011 21:27:56 +0000

Basa JAUN, basque mythology, the Lord of the Woods, a sort of basque Yeti.
Juan is simply John.

Regards