Wine time: Hard ciders made right in York

Hard ciders are in fashion. The apple flavors lend well with holiday meals.

We’d been hearing good things about the ciders, apple doughnuts and other goodies from the Windy Hill Orchard & Cider Mill in York, so we made the short drive to see for ourselves. Good decision.

One of the joys of living in the Carolinas is the proximity to friendly, laid back, ambiance of country living. It’s a peaceful, easy feeling. You might get traces of it at a farmers market. Windy Hill Orchard is the personification of it. It immerses you with a feeling of calmness and goodwill.

The Gusmer family moved to South Carolina in 1978. They started growing apples, making cider, doughnuts and others products, and opened Windy Hill Orchard. It’s a family business every sense of the word. If you visit, you’ll want to bring family. They have hay rides guided by Johnny Appleseed and live music on schedule. They also have a large covered picnic area.

We’ve had concerns about hard cider. The ones we’ve tried have been well, hard. They’ve had strong flavors. They’ve also been out of balance and overly alcoholic. This has changed as master cider makers have devoted time and expertise to blend hard ciders with subtly, finesse and are well layered. Windy Hill offers examples of how good hard ciders can be.

At the cider bar, we met Matt Gusmer. He explained along with their soft, nonalcoholic ciders, they make six hard ciders on a regular basis and some seasonal hard ciders as well. The seasonal hard ciders are only available at Windy Hill. You can order the ciders there by the glass or get a sample flight. The sample flight has all six hard ciders in small glasses. Although the alcohol content is only about 5 percent, less than most beers, it still ends up being a lot of cider. We opted to share a flight. They were all good. Each one was different. They are:

▪ Hoppin Johnny is made with whole leaf hops grown on their farm. It’s well-crafted cider with floral aromas and layers of citrus flavors.

▪ Rusty Gold is a spiced cider with hints of cinnamon, nutmeg and orange peel. It’s a perfect pairing with a holiday meal.

▪ Strawberry Pippin features strawberry juice blended in prior to fermentation. Its subtle and only semi-sweet.

▪ Ginger Gold is their original blend. Its an English-style cider fermented with ginger for refreshing aromas and a lingering finish.

▪ Gala Peach is slightly sweet cider blending hard cider and local peach juice. Serve it over ice if you wish.

▪ Re Vah is the most unusual of their hard ciders. This is produced with pomegranate juice. Its dark and cloudy with a hint of tartness.

You can purchase the Windy Hill hard ciders at some local wine shops, but it’s a lot more fun to visit them and sample all their ciders.

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 10:45 AM with the headline "Wine time: Hard ciders made right in York."