Rose Hill Farm 'Chiffonner' Hudson River Region NV

Rose Hill Farm, in northern Dutchess County, traces its history back to 1798. Owned and run as a fruit orchard by the Fraleigh family for two centuries, the farm eventually expanded to include cherries, blueberries, peaches, raspberries, pumpkins, and winter squash in addition to apples. Bruce and Holly Brittain, along with Chris Belardi, purchased the farm from Dave and Karen Fraleigh and have maintained the Pick-Your-Own orchards since, while shifting to holistic growing practices and starting Rose Hill Ferments. Their line of wines, ciders, and multi-fruit co-fermentations began in January 2020, and their taproom barn space opened later that year. In a very short time, Rose Hill’s experiments with natural fermentation, long macerations, and skin contact have earned a dedicated following. ‘Chiffonner’ is a co-ferment of riesling from Folts Family Farm and equal parts Roxbury Russet and Ashmead’s Kernel apples. Destemmed grapes were covered with freshly-pressed apple juice and fermented for 14 days before being gently pressed. Fermentation was completed in stainless steel and the juice was transferred to neutral French oak barrel to age for 14 months prior to bottling. A genre-bending, mind-blowing, line-blurring intersection of wine-meets-cider. We thought this was grüner veltliner!