A recent addition to the portfolio of Vermont-based Eden Specialty Ciders, the ice cider aficionado spreads its wings with its Cellar Series. The compilation of ciders are one-offs, small-batch ciders you’ll never see again outside these bottlings. Exclusive but not elusive, the ciders are out in distribution, led by the gentle hand of co-founder Eleanor Leger. Take the Juliette, #5 in the 2015 Cellar Series, comprised of St. Lawrence apples grown in Québec, crushed, fermented (and left) dry and aged in used French oak Chardonnay barrels for eight months. Never seeing bubbles of any form, transparency is key in this cider, with its story detailed more romantically on the front label of the bottle like a Shakespearean sonnet. Juliette’s personality is revealed in shades of gold: delicate apple, Meyer lemon and persimmon rub elbows with fresh acid and mineral.
