If you like fermented apples, remember the name Snow Capped Cider. The high-elevation, family-run operation is turning heads with a number of releases, stacking up the awards en route. The cider house has a lot going for it, from a distinctive growing season due to its mountainous setting to more than a hundred apple varieties on a sprawling estate orchard.
Wine enthusiasts will appreciate the label’s Old World approach. Clearly inspired by the cider traditions of iconic areas like France and Spain, Snow Capped works to create the kind of complexity and mouthfeel you might associate with a great Alsace or Champagne.
Owner and head cidermaker Kari Williams has farming in her blood, drawing on a heritage that goes back several generations. Keen to show the unique character offered by her Cedaredge, Colorado, orchard, she shows restraint in the cellar, allowing individual varieties, careful blends and barrel-aged ciders to shine. And while there’s plenty of tradition involved, there’s innovation too, from sophisticated trellising systems in the field to clever techniques in the cellar, like aging cider on Malbec wine lees or co-fermenting estate Riesling with English pears.
The result is one of the most exciting ciders in the game right now, and the awards are piling up. At the most recent GLINTCAP competition — the revered Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition held in Michigan, where some 1,400 entries are judged — Snow Capped not only earned the most total gold medals, swept the Heritage (Sweet) category, and won 18 silvers, but also garnered an impressive seven Best in Class awards, the highest honor in the competition.
Snow Capped also earned numerous accolades at this year’s Cidercraft Awards, garnering six platinum awards and featuring prominently in several categories, including six double golds, two golds and two silvers. Among the decorations, the Harrison cider received a platinum award in the sweet and tannic category, and the Wilde Woods cider, a high-tannin dry offering, also earned a platinum. Additionally, the label’s Winesap cider garnered a platinum in the single varietal category and was selected multiple times as a judges’ pick.
“We’ve been very impressed with the quality of the ciders from Snow Capped,” says Erik Madrid, owner of the Seattle-based cider shop Press then Press, a Certified Pommelier ™ and one of the judges of the Cidercraft Awards. “Their single-varietal ciders are fascinating — the growing conditions of their high elevation orchards seem to lend to higher levels of acidity and natural sugar content in the fruit, and as a result many of their ciders have great acidity and profound expressions of the apple variety in the cider.”
Williams welcomes the recognition. “This year has marked a significant milestone for my cidery receiving such esteemed recognition has been an extraordinary experience,” she says. “Both myself and the entire team feel deeply honored and elated to present our prize-winning Colorado orchards to cider lovers across the country. I have always been a big supporter of the Cidercraft awards and the manner it is held and we really showed up representing Colorado again this year.”
The momentum continues with the label. This Independence Day, Snow Capped will open its new taproom and wine bar in Cedaredge. It’s the culmination of a project that officially started back in the early 1900s, when the Williams family planted their apple orchards. Since, the property, set at towering 6,130 feet in elevation, has grown to 500 acres, with hard cider operations beginning in 2014. The cider continues to be an homage to the special surroundings of Colorado’s West Slope, offering one-of-a-kind terroir that rubs off on the ciders.
The new taproom will feature all kinds of draws, from educational tastings led by winemakers to menus involving a revolving cast of local chefs. The cider will showcase Colorado fruit and the food will spotlight the work of area farmers and growers. In many ways, the taproom is a celebration of the abundant bounty in this special corner of Colorado.
Snow Capped Cider has yet another advantage going forward: With climate change affecting agriculture everywhere, higher-set operations in cooler areas are likely to fare much better. That’s good news for a producer we’re excited to pay close attention to as it settles into its new location and continues to turn out mind-bending-ly good cider.
