"Zīles", Jumpravas pagasts, Lielvārdes novads, LV-5022, Latvija | Mob.: 28465427, 29631631 |
About us
"We are Plums, but we love apples!"
Internationally awarded, family owned, quality not quantity oriented, orchard based, full 100% juice, hand crafted, environment friendly - the real thing.
Everything from grafting and planting apple trees, taking care of the orchard, harvesting the fruit, pressing the juice, till the ready cider is done by Plūme family: wife Dace and husband Māris. They've gained knowledge while working at well known family cider production farms in Austria (Mostviertel) and France (Normandy) as well as doing lots of experiments using different fermentation technics to get different styles of cider since year 2010. Also fermented beverages like fruit wines and distilled strong spirits are being made.
Located in Lielvārdes novads - literary the centre and the heart of Latvia. Orchard consist mostly of rare and special purpose apple variety trees, not so many perry pear trees and berry bushes and some other fruit. It is surrounded by wild forests which give perfect protection against strong winds. It has very fertile clay soil which is perfect for growing healthy apple trees. The northern weather of Baltics is also quite unique because in summers it has much longer hours of daylight and the temperature change from quite warm in the day and chilly in the night give great contribution to development of strong aromas in fruit.
There is ever growing collection of apple varieties in the orchard: Some rare aromatic dessert apples, several local and world wide known crab apples, new hybrids from national apple breeding programs, tannic chance seedlings found in Latvia and also true English bittersweet cider apples. Most are grown on rootstocks like MM 106 and B 118. Also few Austrian perry varieties (Mostbirnen) are grafted and grown on local seedling rootstocks.
To make the most character full cider, the best fruit are needed. Since 2015 crops are being harvested also from own orchard and things are getting more exciting ever since. But still (2019) big part of fruit is gained by "apple safari" - driving around and searching for the best possible seedlings or wild apples - malus sylvestris.
We offer
Tours - visit our farm, get to know our story, taste our products, purchase at site.
Drinks - we offer different ciders, fruit wines, strong spirits.
Music can be performed in addition. Acoustic, bluesy, jazzy, instrumental by cider producer
We can do tastings supplemented with stories and live music at Your location.
Drinks
CIDER
We have dry, semidry and sweet (from the top left) non sparkling apple cider. White wine like character - acidic, fruity, refreshing, tiny effervescence. Enjoy chilled from wine glasses.
Mulled cider (bottom left) ready to be poured and heated. Refreshing, moderately sweet, with just the right touch of cloves and cinnamon. Many prefer to drink it chilled.
Keeved - naturally, in bottle carbonated cider. Character very similar to french Normandy style ciders. Strong colour, strong aroma and flavour. Medium body, medium sweet.
WINE
Black currant berry wine, dry, 13% alc. vol. Very much like dry red grape wine with medium astringency, medium body, red fruit flavour. Excellent with deer and other red meet.
Rhubarb wine, dry, 12% alc. vol. Very light colour, strong and fresh rhubarb aroma, acidic, mineral, rhubarb flavour. Long, slightly bitter aftertaste. Excellent with fish, sushi and other sea food dishes.
STRONG SPIRITS
Apple cider spirits (left), 40% alc. vol. 0.35l. In oak barel aged. Smooth, apple, dried fruit aroma. Apple, dried apricot, chocolate taste. Excellent with black chocolate, cigars, apple deserts.
Apple cider spirits (right), 40% alc. vol. 0.35l. Slightly sharp, grappa like aroma. Smooth, round apple in mouth. Easy to drink. 6kg of apples needed to produce one bottle this size.