Cider Chat 292: A Little Italy at Westwind Orchard | New York
Fabio Chizzola & Laura Ferrara are the owners/farmers of Westwind Orchard located in Accord, New York on the west dies of the Hudson River. The orchard was bought in 2002 and was as Fabio described it "abandoned". Over time her pruned and replanted and open the area for Pick Your Own in 2008.
In addition to offering the apples, pizza was being made and sold. In time Fabio noticed that many of teh patrons were bringing their own wine, beer and perhaps cider to drink with the food. That was an a-ha moment, when he realized that they could do more than just offer apples to take home but instead ferment the select crop into cider!
Both Laura and Fabio are of Italian descendent with Fabio growing up in Rome, which leads to an obvious statement that rings true. "I’m Italian I know food.…I know how food should taste.”
Today the orchard has 70-80 varieties of apples and the Pick Your Own option is no longer available with all the apples going into the production of Westwind Orchard's Cider.
Say Fabio, "We are using every single spot in the orchard for apples trees."
What to expect at Westwind Orchard- Cider is poured by the glass and bottles are available for purchase.
- There is a restaurant with pasta offerings and wood fired pizza
- The main seating is all outdoors on picnic benches and even open in the winter (there is some heating but dress warmly).
- All ciders are fermented to a dry profile
- There are single varietal ciders available and also blends
- Barrel aged ciders
- Occasional ciders made with unsprayed apples and wild yeast
- Cultured yeast are used because Fabio doesn’t use sulfites
Contact for Westwind Orchard
Website: https://www.westwindorchard.com/
Address:
215 LOWER WHITFIELD ROAD ACCORD, NY 12404
Mentions in this Chat
Mentions in this Chat
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- 281: Cider Fueled Road Trip to NY and PA
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