South Hill Cider
FOUNDED 2013
My Journey into Cider Making
I grew up feeding wild apples to cows. My father used to spend Tuesday nights socializing over cider in a cheese-cave-turned-cider-cellar. Years later, when I settled in the Finger Lakes from Western New York, I was surrounded by winemakers and began collaborating with them on making cider. I soon realized that we were making cider better than anything that was commercially available. I soon learned that it was due to the great cider apples that we have in the Finger Lakes. Today, we use traditional heirloom cider apples – as well as wild apples collected in our neighborhood – to produce fine orchard-based ciders that showcase the terroir of the Finger Lakes Region of New York.
VISIT CIDERY WEBSITEWild Apples + Thoughtful Cider Making
At South Hill Cider, our apples come from wild trees, abandoned orchards and orchards of high quality heirloom and cider specific apples. We established and manage our orchard organically and with biodynamic principles. Our cider making is hands-off, but attentive. Many of our ciders use only wild yeast, many are barrel-aged, and all are thoughtful, cared for, and expressive of the Finger Lakes and our own personality. Our approach is to use traditional cider-making techniques to create timeless well-balanced ciders.
Preserving Land with Our Orchard
Our orchard is on a peaceful hilltop and is part of a harmonious ecosystem that relies on diversity and fertility as its foundation. I reflect on the wild apples that I used to feed to the neighborhood cows when I was a kid, and how that pasture is now being turned into a housing development. We protected the property where I planted our orchard with a conservation easement – so it will be protected from development, in perpetuity. I feel that somehow the apple has guided me to help preserve some of this paradise for future generations to experience in flesh and spirit.
The Makers
Founder, Steve Selin
Steve Selin, the cidermaker, apple picker, and community orchardist has been bottling his own cider since 2003. He is a musician grounded firmly in traditional American Old-Time music – a genre that has many parallels to cider. In the 18th and 19th centuries both cider and Old-Time music were staples of American culture, only to be sidelined by more mechanized and industrial rivals. Today, both the music and cider are maturing and being re-incorporated into American culture in a very real and organic manner. Musical references inspire many of our ciders’ names.
"I feel that somehow the apple has guided me to help preserve some of this paradise for future generations."
